What would
you do with an
extra three hours
every day?
That's the time it takes millions of girls and women around the world to collect water every day.
For the women of Bhetkhali village in Bangladesh, it's common to spend a big chunk of the day walking to find water.
For the Munda people in this community, extreme flooding and drought, caused by climate change, is making life even harder. Many of them spend around three hours each day walking for water.
This is time they could better spend in school, earning a living or enjoying time with their family.
I have to take time out from my busy day, from cooking and other chores, to go to fetch water from 2-3 kilometres away. It takes 40 minutes for me to go there and then there’s a huge queue for the water.
"I have to wait 1-2 hours to get the water, sometimes more than that. It’s very annoying to stand in the queue and then it takes another 40 minutes to come back to my home."
If I didn’t have to walk these long distances to get water, I’d have more time to take care of my family. I also wouldn’t have as many health issues."
With clean water close to home, people like Promila, Shyamoli, and the rest of the community would no longer have to walk these long distances.
They would have more time to make a living, pursue their passions and spend time with their children.
I cannot express how happy we would be if we had access to water. We will not worry about how much water we can drink and we can use the water for other things, like cooking.
We asked a few stars what they would do with an extra three hours a day and this is what they said:
Ellie Simmonds
“When I was younger, I had a choice to either pursue swimming competitively or go into dressage and horse jumping. I didn’t have time to do both, so I went with swimming. If I had more time, I’d get back to riding a horse again. I love being around animals and I have a lot of fond memories of riding – a feeling I still miss today.
“It isn’t right that women and girls around the world can spend three hours or even more collecting water every single day, which is often dirty. Water is a basic human right and I saw how it can
change lives during my trip to Uganda with WaterAid. Having clean water close to home gives women the freedom to a life where they can work and study. It should be available to everyone 24/7.”
Ariyon Bakare
“I’ve recently lost one of my closest friends to cancer, which has been incredibly difficult to come to terms with. When he first got sick, I was looking for ways to help him. I discovered how food can be a powerful source of healing. If I had three extra hours a day, I’d pour my soul into researching the health benefits of the food and special diets, herbs and spices. Especially those known for combating cancer and reducing inflammation. I’d create dishes that hit the holy triad of flavour, nutrition and immune-boosting properties.
“Thinking about what you could achieve with a bit more time makes you realise how much women and girls may miss out on by spending hours collecting water. With clean water close to home, people have the time to go to school, earn a living and pursue their dreams.”
Amanda Mealing
“When I spent time with some of the women in my father’s homeland of Ghana during a trip with WaterAid, I witnessed how collecting water is holding women and girls back. I met Faustina, a midwife who was close to tears as she explained the frustrations she feels as a medical professional who cannot provide the quality of care she strives for because she has to waste time collecting water. I also saw the difference clean water can make.
“If I had three extra hours of my day, I’d use them to learn how to cook from one of our most eloquent and impassioned chefs – my good friend Andi Oliver. I am blessed to have spent years sharing an apartment with her, hence my failure to be able to boil an egg. Andi somehow always managed to cook fresh and cook enough for any hungry visitors. I'd love to learn about mixing spices, flavours and, most essentially, cooking with love.”
Tyler West
“If I had more hours in the day, I’d spend quality time with my family and friends making memories I can treasure. I lost someone close to me at Christmas and it highlighted how precious time is, but millions of people are losing thousands of hours every year walking for water.
“In Zambia, I met Brenda, who spends up to six hours a day collecting water from a hand dug well in a dry riverbed. Imagine what she could achieve if she didn’t waste so much time collecting water! In a nearby community where WaterAid helped install clean water facilities, Matildah told me that the water pump has changed her life. She is healthier, her home and clothes are cleaner, and she can spend more time with family and looking after her livestock. Water really does mean life.”
What would you do if you had an extra three hours each day?
To raise awareness of the time women and girls spend walking for water, we asked people what they would do if they had an extra three hours every day.
Some people said they'd learn or practice an instrument, or a new language.
Others said they'd get out more for exercise and fresh air, or they'd take up a new hobby like drawing.
What would you do?
Extra Time examples
We asked DJ AJ Wavy to kick off our campaign with a bespoke audio he created just for this trend! Check out how some content creators have interpreted the trend ↓
@ajwavy What would you do if you had an extra 3 hours every day? Around the world, millions of people walk for hours to collect water. Join this @wateraid trend to share what you’d do and to help bring clean water to communities and give them that valuable time back 🌎 #mashup #remix #extratime #wateraid ♬ Ajwavy X WaterAid - AjWavy
@ind.i.bb Around the world millions of people walk for hours just to collect water; with that extra 3 hours they could be going to school, earning a living or spending time with their family. It can be easy to take things like water for granted, so join this @WaterAid UK | charity 💧 trend to share what you’d do with an extra 3 hours, help raise awareness, and bring clean water to communities in order to give them this valuable time back 🌍 #ExtraTime #WaterAid ♬ Ajwavy X WaterAid - AjWavy
@itzshauni What would you do if you had an extra 3 hours every day? Around the world, millions of people walk for hours to collect water. Join this @WaterAid UK | charity 💧 trend to share what you'd do and to help bring clean water to communities and give them that valuable time back #ExtraTime #WaterAid ♬ Ajwavy X WaterAid - AjWavy
Create your own
Help us raise awareness by creating your own Extra Time video.
Watch this video or read the instructions below to find out what to do:
Instructions:
1) Visit this trending audio page on TikTok on your phone to access the sound and to get some inspiration
2) Click “Use this sound” once you’re ready to start creating your video
3) Record the first part of your video, either hinting at what your activity is or performing an action to grab your audience’s attention – make sure you edit your video so that it aligns with the drop in the audio (about 5-6 seconds)
4) Now record the second part of your video, doing whatever activity you’d choose to do if you had an extra three hours every day – it could be reading your favourite book, spending more time in nature, or trying a new hobby. Be as creative as you can!
5) Once you’re happy with your clips, click the tick on screen to go to the editing page. Here, you can add your text on screen. The text on your first clip should read “If I had an extra three hours every day, I would…” and the text on your second clip should be the activity you’ve chosen, for example, “finally learn how to backflip”. By clicking on the text, you can set the duration so that it aligns with the length of each clip.
6) Click “Next” to go to the final step: adding your caption. Add some information about your video to help TikTok show it to people who are likely to be interested. Make sure to open with something attention-grabbing, and add some relevant hashtags at the end.
Extra points if you also tag @wateraid to help more people find us. Here’s an example if you need some inspiration:
What would you do? For women and girls around the world, an extra three hours means time to get an education, make a living, or spend time with family.
Unfortunately, climate change means they’re having to spend hours every day walking to find their nearest water source.
Follow @wateraid to see how they’re helping vulnerable communities thrive in the face of the climate crisis.
#Water #ClimateChange #WaterMeansLife
Now you’re ready to post your video!
At WaterAid, we've been working with neighbouring communities to help install clean water solutions and the impact has been transformative for women like Komola from Kolbari in Bangladesh.
"There have been lots of changes in our lives since we got clean water.
“Now we have more time to spend with our families, more time to tend to crops in the field and I can spend more time doing my tailoring."
Komola is one of a few women who help run a rainwater harvesting system that brings clean drinking water to her community.
The system harnesses the power of something Komola's village has irregularly, but in abundance – rain. This robust system can withstand the extreme weather they so frequently face.
“There have been lots of changes in our lives since we got clean water. We used to have to walk a long way to get drinking water from the pond. Sometimes we got diarrhoea and then we would have to spend money on medicines.”
“Now our medical expenses have gone down and we have more time to spend with our families, more time to tend to crops in the field and I can spend more time doing my tailoring.”
Chandna, from the community of Borokuput in Bangladesh, also greatly benefits from the extra time she has now that she no longer needs to spend hours a day fetching clean water.
"With this new water we can save a lot of time. We can get fresh water from here.
With the extra time I have I can grow more vegetables. Any extra vegetables that we don't use we can sell in the markets."
By posting your video you're helping to raise awareness of how much time it takes so many women to collect water.
But to create real solutions which are resilient to extreme weather caused by climate change, we need to invest in facilities like rainwater harvesting systems and reverse osmosis plants, which transform water from rain and dirty sources like ponds into clean, drinking water.
Data on time spent collecting water varies significantly depending on the country in question and the context and circumstances of the individual. Figures used on this page are largely anecdotal, based on interviews with individuals in communities we've supported, namely Bangladesh.
For more information on time spent collecting water see page 18 of this report →
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