Frequently Asked Questions.

WaterForward is a global movement to bring clean water to almost a billion people living without it.

It started with a simple idea: what if millions of people using social media donate just $10 per each of their friends to help end the water crisis? Then, they ask their friends to pay it forward. The chain would continue until every single person had clean water to drink. The faces of those who helped would fill a digital book which would then be printed and become a part of history.

That's how WaterForward works. We hope to use the almost one billion people using social media to help the almost one billion living without clean drinking water.

Step 1. A friend buys a number of spaces and you claim one of them. You can’t put yourself in the book. A friend who was put in the book by someone else must pay it forward to you. They have to donate $10 in your name to get you in.

Step 2. You pay it forward. Once you’re in, you can pay it forward to someone else by donating $10 to get them in. If you don't pay it forward, then the chain of giving stops with you.

Step 3. People get access to clean water. charity: water uses 100% of the money to fund water projects and bring clean water to people in need.

100% of the money paid forward in WaterForward goes toward charity: water’s work to provide clean drinking water to people in developing countries. It will be used to fund water project construction, to build the capacity of our partners in the field, to pilot new and innovative water programs and to support the local staff on the ground as they bring clean drinking water to people in need.

See the results for yourself: Map of all completed projects.

A friend must pay it forward to you; they have to donate $10 for a space for you. See if you have any friends in the book by logging in with your Facebook or Twitter account.

Don't have any friends in the book yet? Sign up to claim a public space that someone has donated for anyone to use.

Each page of a WaterForward book has enough space for 500 people. We reserve the first page of the WaterForward online book for the first 500 people who pledge to pay it forward to at least 500 of their friends (or strangers). They're called The Founding 500. These members will always remain on the first page of the site, no matter how many others join. And their photos will appear in the first printed volume of WaterForward.

If you’d like to become one of the the Founding 500 members, please e-mail info@charitywater.org.

WaterForward is a project by charity: water, a non-profit organization bringing clean, safe drinking water to people in developing nations. 100% of public donations directly fund water projects for those in need.

Learn more about charity: water at charitywater.org

Yes! The book will be divided into volumes with a million people in each - and because a million people helping us fight the water crisis is a pretty awesome accomplishment; we'll celebrate by printing a limited number of physical copies of that volume. These copies will be kept at a few special locations, like the charity: water office in New York.

We won't print a volume of WaterForward until it's completely full (one million people strong). And as soon as we fill up that volume, we'll start the next.

Yes, you do. WaterForward is about empowering the nearly one billion people using social media to make a difference for the nearly one billion living without clean water. Since Facebook and Twitter are two of the biggest social media platforms out there, we use these to accomplish our goal.

charity: water is a non-profit organization bringing clean and safe drinking water to people in developing nations. We use 100% of public donations to fund sustainable water projects for communities in need.

Learn more about charity: water here »

Almost a billion people on the planet don’t have access to clean, safe drinking water. That’s one in eight of us. Unsafe water and a lack of basic sanitation kill more people than all forms of violence, including war. Children are especially vulnerable, as their bodies aren't strong enough to fight diarrhea, dysentery and other illnesses.

In Africa alone, people spend 40 billion hours every year just walking for water. Women and children usually bear the burden of water collection, walking miles to the nearest source, which is unprotected and likely to make them sick.

But clean water changes everything.

Water projects built near home can restore hours to someone’s day. Instead of walking for water -- or falling sick from drinking dirty water -- adults can use this time to work and children can use it to get an education. Families with enough safe water to drink, bathe, clean and grow their own food can become self-sufficient households, less affected by external conflict, famine or inadequate government services.

Learn more about how water changes everything here »

charity: water works in 19 developing countries around the world. By region, here's where our projects have been implemented --

Africa: Central African Republic, Cote d'Ivoire, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Ethiopia, Kenya, Liberia, Malawi, Rwanda, Sierra Leone, Tanzania, Uganda.

Asia: Bangladesh, Cambodia, India, Nepal.

Latin America/Caribbean: Bolivia, Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras.

A wide variety! We choose the technology our local partners on the ground believe are the best solutions for that region’s water availability, culture and economic conditions.

So where water is near the earth’s surface, the community may band together and help dig their own well by hand. When water is less accessible, our local partners have to use a professional drill team to dig deep in the ground or pipe fresh water from a remote mountain spring.

Right now, the most common water technologies charity: water funds include drilled wells, hand-dug wells, spring protection systems, rainwater catchments, filtration systems, improved sanitation projects (toilets) and the rehabilitation of previously abandoned water projects.

But we’re growing fast and investing in new ways to fight the water crisis. We believe in building the capacity of our incredible partners in the field. This means funding equipment, supplies and training to grow their programs. This also means piloting new solutions to find the most cost-effective and sustainable way to help a community get clean water that will last for years to come.

It all started with a birthday party.

Scott Harrison threw a party for his 31st birthday in New York City. He asked everyone to bring $20 instead of giving him gifts -- and he used 100% of the money to fund water projects for a refugee camp in Uganda. He went further: raising awareness through free exhibitions at city parks, striking up conversations with anyone who might listen and using every dollar of the money he raised to fund more water for people in need.

Watch and read Scott’s entire story here »