Dougray Scott supports WaterAid’s mission to get clean water to all

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Scottish actor Dougray Scott is supporting WaterAid’s mission to get clean water to everyone everywhere in his role as ambassador for the international charity.

As NASA’s rover touches down on Mars to try and find water and evidence of life – one of three missions to the red planet this month – WaterAid is highlighting the lives lost every day because people don’t have clean water.

Dougray, who has starred in Ripley’s Game, Enigma, My Week with Marilyn, Mission Impossible II, and The Woman in White, and is currently filming the new series of Batwoman in Vancouver, is supporting WaterAid’s call for the world to come together and help get clean water to the 785 million people living without it.

Dougray Scott said:

“We’re witnessing a historical moment with this month’s missions to Mars – it’s incredible to see what can be achieved with the right ambition. The world also has an ambition to get clean water to everyone everywhere by 2030 but is off-track in meeting its target.

“Imagine facing the global pandemic without clean water to wash your hands. That is the reality for one in ten people. If we get clean water to all, it will be the beginning of the end for diseases like cholera and typhoid, as well as helping stop the spread of coronavirus – what a historical moment that would be!

“I’ve seen the difference clean water can make when I visited Mozambique with WaterAid. It means women and children don’t have to spend hours each day collecting dirty water or risk getting sick from drinking it. Clean water can transform whole communities, improving health, keeping children in school and enabling people to earn a living.”

Nearly half the population in Mozambique has no clean water and over two-thirds lack a decent toilet. The country is now facing a seven-fold increase in Covid-19 cases.

In 2017, Dougray visited the country and met Gracinda who made three trips every day to collect dirty water from a crevice at the bottom of a steep hill. Her dream was that her young children would grow up healthy and have a better life than she had, and she hoped clean water would help make those dreams a reality.

Dougray met Florinda in a nearby village where WaterAid had already worked. Now she has clean water close to home, her children are healthier, and she can spend more time with them as well as grow crops to sell and feed her family with.

He also visited a school, where attendance has significantly improved since they got clean water and a new toilet block, transforming the children’s education.

WaterAid is working in communities, schools and health centres in Mozambique and other countries around the world to improve access to clean water, decent toilets and good hygiene. Just £15 can bring clean water to one person. Find out more at www.wateraid.org.

Watch WaterAid’s new film, The Girl Who Built a Rocket

For more information, please contact:

Laura Crowley, PR Manager, [email protected]. Or call our after-hours press line on +44 (0)7887 521 552, or email [email protected].

Notes to Editors:

WaterAid

WaterAid is working to make clean water, decent toilets and good hygiene normal for everyone, everywhere within a generation. The international not-for-profit organisation works in 28 countries to change the lives of the poorest and most marginalised people. Since 1981, WaterAid has reached 27 million people with clean water and 27 million people with decent toilets. For more information, visit www.wateraid.org, follow @WaterAidUK or @WaterAidPress on Twitter, or find WaterAid UK on Facebook at www.facebook.com/wateraid.

• 785 million people in the world – one in ten – do not have clean water close to home.[1]
• 2 billion people in the world – almost one in four – do not have a decent toilet of their own.[2]
• Around 310,000 children under five die every year from diarrhoeal diseases caused by poor water and sanitation. That's around 800 children a day, or one child every two minutes.[3]
• Every £1 invested in water and toilets returns an average of £4 in increased productivity.[4]
• Just £15 can provide one person with clean water.[5]