WaterAid and Currensea launch innovative debit card to help people get clean water with every tap

Download photosWaterAid has partnered with Currensea and Mastercard to launch a brand-new innovative debit card, helping people save money at home and abroad and donating those savings to help people get clean water, decent toilets and good hygiene.

From rounding up your everyday purchases whether that be to the nearest 50p or £1, to saving bank fees abroad, the card will enable supporters to easily donate to WaterAid UK.

It benefits users the most while travelling, saving at least 85% in bank fees on every foreign transaction compared to high street banks. People can then choose to donate a percentage of these savings to WaterAid.  

Users will not need to set up a new bank account; Currensea is a free card acting as a layer in front of your current bank account and connected via online banking. All transactions are protected by Mastercard’s chargeback protection.  

Alex Johnston, Senior Digital Engagement Manager, said:

“One in ten people don’t have clean water close home while one in five lack a decent toilet, affecting people’s health, education and livelihoods. WaterAid is working towards a world where everyone everywhere has these basic rights.

“Currensea is such an innovative partner, and it is brilliant to see how WaterAid’s new debit card enables supporters to donate with ease by rounding up spending. By using the card, people can save and donate what is right for them while helping us get clean water, decent toilets and good hygiene to communities around the world, changing lives for good.

Click here for more information or to get your free cardENDS  

For more information, please contact:

Media and Celebrity Assistant Hana Bel Haj, [email protected] and Laura Crowley PR Manager [email protected]

Or call WaterAid’s press line on 020 7793 4537, or email [email protected].

Notes to Editors:

Download photos  WaterAid 

 WaterAid is an international not-for-profit determined to make clean water, decent toilets and good hygiene normal for everyone, everywhere within a generation. We work alongside communities in 22 countries to secure these three essentials that transform people’s lives. Since 1981, WaterAid has reached 28 million people with clean water and nearly 29 million people with decent toilets.

For more information, visit our website wateraid.org/uk, follow us on Twitter @WaterAidUK, @WaterAid or @WaterAidPress, or find us on Facebook, LinkedIn or Instagram.

• 703 million people in the world – almost one in ten – don’t have clean water close to home.
• 2.2 billion people in the world – more than one in four – don’t have safe water.
• Almost 2 billion people in the world – one in four – lack soap and/or water to wash their hands at home, if they have a place at all.
• 1.5 billion people in the world – almost one in five – don’t have a decent toilet of their own.
• 570 million people in the world – 1 in 14 – have a decent toilet but have to share it with people outside their family. This compromises the privacy, dignity and safety of women and girls.
• Almost 400,000 children under five die every year due to diseases caused by unsafe water, sanitation and hygiene. That's more than 1000 children a day, or almost one child every one and a half minutes. 
• Investing in safely managed water, sanitation and hygiene services provides up to 21 times more value than it costs.

[1] WHO/UNICEF (2023). Progress on household drinking water, sanitation and hygiene 2000-2022: special focus on gender. Available at: washdata.org/reports/jmp-2023-wash-households-launch (accessed 11 Jul 2023).  

[2] WHO (2023). Burden of disease attributable to unsafe drinking-water, sanitation and hygiene: 2019 update. Available at: who.int/publications/i/item/9789240075610 (accessed 24 Jul 2023).

[3] WaterAid (2021). Mission-critical: Invest in water, sanitation and hygiene for a healthy and green economic recovery. Available at: washmatters.wateraid.org/publications/mission-critical-invest-water-sanitation-hygiene-healthy-green-recovery (accessed 1 Nov 2023).