July 6, 2023 (press release) –
Sustainability Challenge:
More than 2.1 billion people around the global lack access to clean, safe drinking water.
Chemistry Solution:
OxyChem’s ACL chlorine water disinfection tablets have helped provide clean water for more than one million people in refugee camps and emergency disaster areas around the globe.
Sustainability Benefit:
OxyChem has helped to elevate the standard of living of more than one million people with its chlorine chemistry, helping people live healthier and longer lives.
More than 2.1 billion people around the global lack access to clean, safe drinking water, and an estimated 842,000 people die each year due to diarrhea caused by inadequate drinking water, sanitation and hand hygiene.
To address the growing need for potable water around the globe, Occidental Chemical Corporation (OxyChem) has partnered with Water Mission, a nonprofit that designs, builds and implements safe water, sanitation and hygiene solutions for people in developing countries and disaster areas.
Since 2018, OxyChem has contributed over 120,000 pounds of ACL chlorine water disinfection tablets that have been used to produce more than 1 billion gallons of clean drinking water and help Water Mission provide clean water for more than one million people in Uganda, Kenya and Tanzania refugee camps, as well as emergency disaster areas including Haiti and Bahamas.
In 2021, the La Soufrière volcano erupted on the Caribbean Island of St. Vincent after decades of dormancy. More than 16,000 people were forced from their homes to find refuge in public shelters and a contaminated water supply. OxyChem and Water Mission set up emergency operations providing humanitarian and disaster relief. Water Mission established 87 clean safe drinking water and sanitation (WASH) stations using OxyChem's ACL 90 product across the island. In early 2022, OxyChem supplied over 24,000 lbs of its ACL 56 granule product for use by the island’s Central Waste and Sewage Authority (CWSA).
Over the last 20 years, Water Mission has served almost 7 million people in 57 countries with lasting safe water solutions to combat the global water crisis. OxyChem works with Water Mission to provide technical training to the local communities on how to operate the water system, develop a water source and safely handle and store the ACL chlorine tablets. The program creates a self-sustaining clean water model in which communities can collect revenue from the sale of the water to invest back into the system.
The partnership has helped reduce environmental impacts to rivers and streams in communities where Water Mission operates, by helping enable better sanitation practices to produce clean water. This has resulted in additional positive community impacts, including helping improve the safety of women walking to collect safe drinking water for their families, as well as allowing young children to attend school due to less water-related illnesses.
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