The most basic requirement to sustain life is clean water. In many rural and peri-urban communities across sub-Saharan Africa the struggle to find clean and safe drinking water can take a major part of a family’s resource. More often than not, the burden falls to women and children to collect water often walking great distances from home and even then the water drawn from pools or rivers is often contaminated with pollutants and potentially lethal bacteria that cause illness and infections.
To make water palatable and safe to drink it needs to be boiled, however lack of education and the cost of fuel wood to do this, can make even these simple precautions prohibitive for the poorest families.
Community boreholes like the ones provided by co2balance create a safe, clean source of water for an average of 200 families closest to the borehole; generating a water supply which can service families for years without the need to boil water with traditional biomass stoves. Removing the need for boiling water in this way generates carbon credits.
This is one example of the many schemes that are available from co2balance, that not only allow companies to become carbon neutral, but also that contribute directly to the lives of people in need. Peter Groucutt, Managing Director of Databarracks, commented: “We saw this as an opportunity to not only reduce our carbon footprint but to make a difference as well.
“The co2balance scheme isn’t just a case of buying credits or planting trees - we’re providing entire communities with access to clean and safe drinking water, which not only gives immediate relief, but fundamentally improves long term health and quality of life for entire communities.”
Mark Simpson, Founder & Managing Director of co2balance UK Ltd, commented: "Taking responsibility of your carbon footprint is vital in order for us to combat climate change and so we are delighted to work with Databarracks to offset their carbon emissions to achieve carbon zero status. As well as doing the right thing environmentally, the projects that they are supporting in Africa will make real improvements to families in Kenya and Uganda."
