Imagine waking up tomorrow to find that suddenly none of your taps work. You can’t have a shower, brush your teeth, or fill the kettle. You try everything possible to get the problem fixed, but eventually, you realise this is your reality now.

For grandmother Mery, this was what happened earlier this year. Storm Ana tore through her village in Malawi and damaged the water system her entire community relies on. Ever since, she and her neighbours have had no choice but to drink dirty water.

Mery lives with her children and grandchildren in Kamwendo, a quiet rural community in southern Malawi. She relies on farming to provide for her family. But earlier this year, a tropical storm put all of this at risk.

Flooding caused wide-spread damage to homes and crops. It also swept away the pipes that brought clean water to Mery’s community.

Now they have to walk long distances to collect water that isn’t safe to drink. They have to care for sick family members and sacrifice precious time on their farms.

“Just recently I was at the hospital with my grandson who has been having diarrhoea.” Mery, Kamwendo

Will you help make sure the taps stay on in communities like Mery’s? With your support we can replace damaged pipes and strengthen water systems so that clean water keeps flowing whatever the weather. Please donate today.

All donations are used to support WaterAid's water, sanitation and hygiene programs, and aren't restricted to this project.

WaterAid has teams in 28 countries across the world, working with our partners to transform millions of lives every year by improving access to clean water, toilets and hygiene.

Since 1981, we’ve reached over 27 million people with clean water. But we can’t stop there.

In the last 39 years, we’ve gone from strength to strength to become one of the most respected organisations dealing solely with water, sanitation and hygiene issues.

While installing taps and toilets is essential to our work, we do so much more. We convince governments to change laws, link policy makers with people on the ground, pool knowledge and resources and rally support from people and organisations around the world, making lasting change happen on a massive scale.