Our Purpose

Water For Life (WFL) is an international organization formed in 2003 by the late Dr. Howard Malmstadt to carry out his vision for the bringing safe water to two-thirds of the world.

We use a combination of appropriate water technologies, water health education, and cutting-edge research to address water needs around the world. We encourage local planning and participation in each project to ensure ownership and a lasting impact on each community. WFL is based in Kailua Kona; Hawaii is currently working on projects in the Kiribati Republic, China, Brazil and Oceanview Hawaii. Our hope is to help provide safe water for those most in need.

Taking the Initiative

WFL seeks to find appropriate and sustainable solutions to local and global water problems. We advocate and teach the use of bacteria-testing kits, ferrocement rain tanks, bio-sand filters, hydro-ram pumps, solar pumps, sinks and toilets and other technologies to meet the specific water needs of each community.

We believe in education at the family and household level to train the younger generation in healthy water practices. We are also actively involved in research and utilize cutting edge technologies such as solar distillation and desalinization systems to help solve the world water issues.

Our Strategies

• Increase awareness of the water crisis being faced in many parts of the world
• Encourage the development and distribution of appropriate water technologies
• Utilize cutting edge technology and research to find sustainable solutions to water problems faced in the developing world
• Educate communities in hygiene and healthy sanitation practices to minimize water borne disease

Our Motivation

Did you know that 2 billion people lack access to safe drinking water and millions die annually from water related diseases? It's difficult to imagine lacking such a necessity to life, however experiencing someone die from polluted water brings the issue to life.

In March of 2007 a WFL team was helping to build rain catchment tanks in the Republic of Kiribati when a funeral was being held for a one-year-old boy. The child had died early from a waterborne disease he had likely contracted from the local well water. Subsequent bacteria testing confirmed that the well, held high fecal colliform counts which pose a significant health risk to humans, especially children and the elderly. The most difficult part of seeing the child die was to know how easily avoidable his situation could have been.

We believe that there is a solution and that through education, community participation and love, we can help save lives and raise the standard of living around the world.