March is Water, Sanitation & Hygiene Month

What Is your Rotary Club doing to focus on Water, Sanitation and Hygiene in March 2026?  Clean water, sanitation and good hygiene is a human right. When people, especially children, have access to clean water, sanitation, and hygiene, they lead healthier and more successful lives. We don’t just build wells and walk away. Rotary members integrate water, sanitation, and hygiene into education projects. When children learn about disease transmission and practice good hygiene, they miss less school. And they can take those lessons home to their families, expanding our impact.
 

Clean water is a basic human right that many are often denied. There are 2.5 billion people in the world that lack access to improved sanitation and 748 million people that don’t have clean drinking water. Nearly 1400 children die each day from diseases caused by lack of sanitation and unsafe water. When people have access to clean water, they live healthier and more productive lives.

 
In 2015, the United Nations introduced their new Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to end poverty and promote prosperity while protecting the environment and addressing climate change. Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 6 on water and sanitation encourages us to address universal access to drinking water and sanitation along with improved water management to protect ecosystems and build resiliency. *
Rotary members are committed to reaching the water and sanitation SDG through projects like building wells, installing rainwater harvesting systems, and teaching community members how to maintain new infrastructure.
 
During March, Rotary Water, Sanitation and Hygiene Month, we’re celebrating our commitment to create healthier communities by supplying clean water and sanitation facilities to prevent the spread of infectious diseases. Here are just a few examples of club service projects around the world that are creating a lasting impact:
  • The Rotary Club of Morning Tide Bugolobi together with Hamilton Rotary Club and all other Rotary and Interact clubs in Bermuda (D7230) are the international partners.  The project consists of a water catchment to provide clean water for the residents of, Rwempungu, Mitooma District in rural western Uganda (640km West of Kampala). 
  • The Rotary Club of Utumishi in Kenya together with 11 Rotary clubs in D7230, undertook a project to provide natural filtration to the water of 26 springs, impacting more than 1500 families,

 

HOW ROTARY MAKES HELP HAPPEN Rotary has issued a global challenge to its members, asking them to work collectively to improve education quality and access — particularly for girls — by working with communities to improve teacher training, curriculum, and water, sanitation, and hygiene facilities.

ROTARY’S TARGET CHALLENGE to develop sustainable water, sanitation, hygiene (WASH), and education projects is being piloted in five countries: Belize, Guatemala, Honduras, India, and Kenya.

ROTARY HAS PARTNERED WITH THE U.S. AGENCY FOR INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT to implement sustainable, long-term projects to improve water supply, sanitation, and hygiene in the Dominican Republic, Ghana, and the Philippines.

Rotary makes amazing things happen, like:

  • Strengthen the ability of communities to develop, fund, and maintain sustainable water and sanitation systems.

  • Provide equitable community access to safe water, improved sanitation, and hygiene.

  • Support programs that enhance communities’ awareness of the benefits of safe water, sanitation, and hygiene.

  • Support career-minded professionals’ studies related to water and sanitation.

  • Create tools and resources that facilitate, measure, and enhance high-quality water and sanitation projects worldwide.

  • $ 24 is all it takes to provide one person with safe water

  • 23 million people now have safe water because of Rotary

  • 21 million people have access to sanitation and hygiene thanks to Rotary projects

  • 2030 is the year Rotary hopes to finish providing everyone with safe water, sanitation, and hygiene

  • Join Rotary and help extend the flow of clean water to everyone.

  • Give now to support a water project.

  • Rotary - Providing Clean Water

RESOURCES & REFERENCE

Scholarships available for advanced training in water solutions: The Rotary Foundation and UNESCO-IHE Institute for Water Education are offering up to 10 scholarships for graduate study at UNESCO-IHE's Delft campus in the Netherlands. The aim is to increase the number of trained professionals who can devise, plan, and implement water and sanitation solutions in developing areas.