I’m running the Glasgow Green half marathon on 3rd May 2025. This will definitely be difficult for me as I don’t really run and have no endurance (hence why I’m a boulderer and not a sport climber) and until last week was running in size 4.5 shoes when the shop assistant told me I should be wearing size 6…

I will be raising money for a charity named Dig Deep. Dig Deep’s work is centred around improving clean water access and sanitation in Bomet County, Kenya (population ~ 1 million), where the charity has been a long-term presence since 2012. The charity is led together by individuals in Kenya and the United Kingdom, working closely with Bomet County Government and Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) to provide clean water and sanitation for all.

Now for the technical stuff! I hold an MSc in Water and Environmental Engineering with a particular focus on water and development (from the Water and Development Research Group of Aalto University / Aalto-Yliopisto [a]), and I’ve been working in Water Management Consultancy at AtkinsRéalis [b] for a year and a half. Thus, I’m aware of the stark challenges that water stress, water scarcity and poor sanitation can present (though I know I and lots of us in the UK are fortunate enough to have access to safe drinking water and good sanitation, which we often take for granted). The member states of the United Nations are aiming to ‘Ensure availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all’, by 2030; the sixth of seventeen Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) agreed to as part of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. However, this is not on track to be met, which the three facts I’ve selected below highlight:

- Since 2015, the percentage of the global population that has access to clean drinking water has seen a modest increase from 69% to 73%. However, to achieve SDG 6, this rate of increase will need to increase six times [1].

- Inadequate sanitation results in over 1 million deaths annually from diarrhoea, and this figure does not account for deaths from other water-borne diseases [2].

- 75% of citizens in Kenya do not have adequate hand-washing facilities including soap and water at home [3].

From visiting Nepal and writing my MSc dissertation on community-based flood early warning systems, I’ve seen first hand that locally based charities, NGOs and local councils working together on long-term and focused projects can often result in more noticeable change than trying to find a ‘one size fits all’ top-down legislative solution. This is especially true in countries which are varied geographically, topographically and demographically. All of which is to say that I believe it’s appositive thing to donate to charities such as Dig Deep who actively have local citizens within their leadership teams, and who work permanently where their projects are being implemented. It feels like donations are being used responsibly, directed and used by people who know what is best to do with them!

​A couple of recent projects carried out by Dig Deep include:

- Surveys with local citizens in Sotik sub-county of toilet usage and water supply availability, the outcome of which has contributed to a database of available water supply points and their condition to identify hotspots of supply and demand [4].

- Implementing Community Led Total Sanitation (CLTS) in Ndanai-Abosi – the creation of community events where local citizens are able to work together to create a plan to eliminate open defecation in their villages / towns, such as organising shared labour and resources to build or share toilets. Ndanai-Abosi has subsequently been declared as free from open defecation by Kenya’s national monitoring hub [5].

More can be found on their website [c].

I’ll be directing all donations from my run directly to Dig Deep, and any donation no matter how small or large is welcome. If you’re based in Glasgow, keep your eyes peeled for potential cakes coming your way. The run is part of a large challenge I’ll be undertaking with AtkinsRéalis to climb Kilimanjaro in August 2025 to raise money and awareness for Dig Deep. Hopefully the half marathon will kick me into shape for that, otherwise I’ve got problems!

Thank you in advance! And feel free to follow my Strava for my physical suffering / training...

References:

[1] https://sdgs.un.org/goals/goal6#progress_and_info

[2] https://www.who.int/health-topics/water-sanitation-and-hygiene-wash#tab=tab_2

[3] https://www.unicef.org/kenya/water-sanitation-and-hygiene

[4] https://www.digdeep.org.uk/post/seeing-the-unseen-the-value-of-water

[5] Helping over 100 communities in Bomet County become Open Defecation Free

Links:

[a] https://wdrg.aalto.fi/

[b] https://www.atkinsrealis.com/en/markets-and-services/markets/water

[c] https://www.digdeep.org.uk/