Ariel has announced the launch of a brand new initiative to donate 80 million litres of safe drinking water to children in developing nations. Working in partnership with the Children’s Safe Drinking Water Programme and Five and Alive, Ariel will donate 10 litres of safe drinking water for every special promotional pack purchased in the UK from 1 May – the equivalent to a week’s supply of drinking water for a small child in the developing world[1]

The new initiative builds on the success of the Ariel 2006/2007 ‘Turn to 30°’ campaign, which helped to inspire the country to do their bit for the planet and live more sustainably. Working together with Energy Saving Trust, Ariel helped UK households to wash in lower temperatures. The result has been 8 times more loads at 30 degrees to save up to 40% more energy[2].  Now Ariel plans to protect and provide precious water. 

Respected British actress and mother Joely Richardson is supporting the campaign to inspire the British public to help get safe drinking water to families in countries that need it most. Having witnessed first hand the life-saving efforts of the Children’s Safe Drinking Water Programme in Malawi, Ms Richardson will help to educate people on how their support of the Ariel campaign can truly make a difference abroad. 

Since its launch in 2003, Children’s Safe Drinking Water Programme has provided 1 billion litres of clean drinking water for children and their families in need around the world. It has provided clean drinking water to people in 30 developing nations with the introduction of the PUR^TM purifier of water.  Since 2004, Children’s Safe Drinking Water Programme has supported Five and Alive’s programmes with an annual contribution of $1.4 million dollars to help further programmes such as distribution of PUR^TM to orphanages in Uganda, school programme in Kenya, clinic programmes and emergency relief response network for Latin America. 

In 2007, the Programme received the Ron Brown US Presidential Award for Corporate Citizenship, the United Nations Association Global Leadership Award, the Grainger Challenge Bronze Award for Sustainability, and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Children’s Health Excellence Award. 

Five and Alive is a programme of Population Services International (PSI) – a leading global health organisation. Five and Alive reaches children five and under to prevent and treat malaria, water-borne illness, pneumonia and malnutrition by providing children and their families with the education, products, services and care needed to improve health and save lives in more than 30 countries.

In 2006, PSI’s Five and Alive programme treated over 8.6 billion litres of drinking water, averting 4.1 million cases of water borne illness and saving lives of 6000 children through its safe water programmes alone. 

P&G and Five and Alive have been in partnership for the last three years with the goal of providing safe drinking water in the developing world through household water treatment using P&G’s PUR^TM Purifier of Water. P&G and Five and Alive work together to provide safe drinking water with PUR^TM in Uganda, Kenya, the Dominican Republic, Malawi, Haiti, Pakistan, Congo, Democratic Republic of the Congo and Ethiopia.

Ariel’s safe drinking water donation will be supplied to the countries using PUR^TM technology – sachets of a powder that cleans and purifies water to World Health Organisation standards for safe drinking water, importantly reducing diarrheal illness. Each 4g sachet can purify 10 litres of water, with the campaign aiming to donate a total of 80 million litres of safe drinking water to children in developing nations. 

Greg Allgood, Director of P&G’s Children’s Safe Drinking Water Programme, said: "The campaign comes at an important time, with one billion people in many developing countries unable to have access to safe drinking water. With no running water, these families have no choice but to drink from contaminated rivers and streams which leads to more than 4,000 children dying unnecessarily every day[3]. With the British public’s help, we can continue to expand efforts and provide immediate relief to families in crisis in countries like Uganda, Kenya, Malawi, Pakistan, Democratic Republic of the Congo and Ethiopia. The power to make a real difference is within our reach."
 
British Actress, Joely Richardson, calls on the British public to get behind the initiative: "I’ve just come back from a trip to Malawi where I saw first hand how the Children’s Safe Drinking Water Programme and Five and Alive are saving lives. At home we take it for granted that we have clean drinking water literally on tap and it’s staggering that so many countries still don’t have this privilege.  Thankfully there is something we can all do here that can improve the lives of millions of children." 

The initiative will be in UK stores nationwide from 1 May until 30 September 2008. It forms part of the ‘Be Water Wise with Ariel’ 2008 campaign which aims to raise awareness of the importance of water in our day to day lives, both in the UK and abroad. As part of its commitment to sustainability, Ariel is working in partnership with Waterwise, the UK’s leading authority in water efficiency, to encourage the British public to make small changes in the home that can help to protect one of the world’s most precious resources. 

For water saving tips and advice visit www.ariel.co.uk/water. 

[1] Based on approximately 1.5 litres of drinking water per small child for one day.

[2] Research by IPC has shown that UK consumers are already getting the ‘turn to 30′ message with 8 times more loads now being washed at 30 degrees (from 2% in 2002 to 17% in 2007).

[3] Source – World Health Organisation.

Tags: energy, environment, Reviews

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