Email your MP today
Every Drop Counts.
Every Voice Matters.
Later this year, the UK will go to the polls. Now is the time to make sure the next government
prioritises clean water as part of our international development budget. You can help!
“We will fail at overcoming today’s most pressing global challenges without urgent investment in water”
Will you share with your MP?
What's this campaign about?
In 2015, the UK signed up to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which includes SDG 6: to get water, sanitation and hygiene to everyone, everywhere, by 2030.
Global progress towards that goal is seriously off track. The next UK Government is the last that can make a major impact on turning this around before the 2030 deadline. We've written a Manifesto for Water, outlining exactly what they need to do.
Time is running out. Every drop counts, every voice matters: please share our manifesto with your MP.
What the UK Government can do
The next UK Government needs to deliver on its promises to vulnerable nations by prioritising investment in clean water as part of our international development budget, and stepping up as world leaders to address the global water crisis – the epicentre of climate and health challenges.
Why should the UK Government care?
Today’s global water crisis is a critical threat to public health, climate resilience, peace and economic prosperity. And the UK public wants to see action on clean water! Our recent polling found that a quarter (25%) think water is the most important issue to spend overseas aid on, and over half (53%) rank it in their top three issues. Your email to your MP will help raise awareness in Westminster and could influence the priorities of the next government.
Elisa's story
Mixed in with some of Elisa's most precious memories are recollections she'd no doubt rather forget. The day she gave birth to her first daughter, she still remembers the state of the toilets in the health centre:
"I remember the day I went to that latrine it was so dirty, so I walked back to my room and I never walked back there again. I asked my partner to buy me a chamber pot in the market."
Eight years later, when Elisa recently returned to the same health centre in Madagascar with her second child, Olivia, it was a very different experience.
"This time I was happy to see the new toilets here. It is so nice. When you are inside you feel so great. They change the environment of this health centre.”
Decent toilets, clean water and hygienic facilities are not things that should come as a pleasant surprise to anyone needing medical treatment. They should be normal. And we'll keep campaigning until they are - together, we can help bring that day closer.
WaterAid’s key asks to the future UK Government are to:
- Invest: allocate a minimum of 10% of the Official Development Assistance budget to water, sanitation and hygiene, focusing on the poorest countries and those most off-track from achieving water and sanitation for all.
- Lead: The UK must be a global water, sanitation and hygiene champion and make water central to global climate and health action.
- Empower: The UK must tackle global inequality through water, sanitation and hygiene and can start by ringfencing investment for women and girls’ needs and ensure their participation in decisions.