Access to clean water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) are vital for living a dignified, healthy life. Access to these services is a human right. But globally, 1 in 5 people still don't have a decent toilet of their own, and 1 in 10 don't have clean water close to home. At Diva Salon Spa we are passionate about ensuring that everyone, everywhere has this human right realized, which is why we have worked with WaterAid for over a decade. With the help of amazing people like you, Diva Salon Spa has become a leader in supporting WaterAid Canada and AVEDA-Collega's Madagascar: Everyone, Everywhere project (2016-2020) by raising over $250,000 throughout the four years of the program. Because of your support, Madagascar: Everyone, Everywhere provided 21,162 people with access to clean water, and 13,625 people with access to hygienic family latrines.

Diva Salon Spa continues to support WaterAid's work through Project Boond in India. The water crisis in India is dire, with 600 million people facing extreme water stress, and an estimated 13 children under the age of five die every hour due to diarrhea and other water-borne illnesses, as a result of drinking unsafe water.

Project Boond is a collaboration between WaterAid and The One Drop Foundation focused on improving the quality of life of marginalized communities in the Gaya and Madhubani districts of Bihar State, India. In these districts, only 11.7% of the population have access to a piped water supply.

The above image shows a young girl living in Gaya, helping her mom prepare food. The people in the Gaya district rely heavily on groundwater contaminated with high levels of fluoride as their main source of water. Prolonged ingestion of unsafe levels of fluoride leads to severe fluorosis, which causes extreme bone and joint pain. Below is a water access point in a small village in Gaya in 2018 prior to the start of the project. The water from this tap contains dangerous levels of fluoride, yet it is the only source of nearby water and is used by the whole community for drinking, washing, cooking, and bathing.

In Madhubani district, poorly maintained, and at times nonexistent, sanitation infrastructure means that the annual flooding during monsoon seasons contaminates their water sources with fecal matter. This causes an increase in the cases of lethal diseases, such as diarrhea, dysentery, typhoid, and cholera.

Project Boond works directly with communities to create WASH services that are managed by the community. This establishes a consistent piped water supply throughout Gaya and Madhubani districts. To ensure the sustainability of the project, community participation is a central part of the WASH planning and implementation process.

In the summer of 2021, WaterAid began work in Manpur, Gaya district, and identified 10 of the most marginalized communities that face consistent extreme water scarcity. After a thorough assessment of the environmental landscape and community needs, 10 safe water access points were established for use by almost 1000 individuals. Subsequently, Operations and Maintenance committees were formed to ensure the sustainability of the intervention. Now fully trained, the Committees have started working with women in the community to train them to become certified in monitoring the quality status at water points. The image below shows a local woman standing beside one of the newly constructed water pumps in Manpur.

Globally, WaterAid works in 35 different countries, changing millions of lives every year with clean water, decent toilets, and good hygiene. But the water crisis is far from over. With the additional strains of COVID-19 and climate change, ensuring sustainable and resilient WASH services is critical. Through Project Boond, WaterAid is one step closer to reaching its vision of a world where people facing poverty and marginalization have access to sustainable and safe water, sanitation, and hygiene.