Clean water and sanitation for the villages in India

 
The Raah Foundation works towards the holistic development of India’s indigenous communities by creating self-sustaining systems and local opportunities. Uponor will offer its expertise in water and sanitation in different projects, starting with “Project Malhar”, which is bringing sustainable change to the water-scarce communities of Jawhar and Mokhada in Maharashtra, India. Uponor will contribute in specific areas, for example, supporting with the construction and repair of check dams, building and repairing wells and borewells, as well as creating additional water sources to improve quality of life and health of India’s tribal communities. Uponor and Raah have already received approval from the Maharashtra authorities and initial work on the hydrogeological analysis of the land and construction for the very first check dam started in February 2022.

“We are continuously looking at ways in which we, as a global company, can align our corporate values with the wider challenges that the world faces today,” says Dr. Karsten Hoppe, President of Building Solutions Europe at Uponor. “The UN Sustainable Development Goals are a blueprint for addressing these challenges and we, at Uponor, fully support the focus on clean water and proper sanitation for everyone, everywhere. We are therefore elated that we can support such a special organisation with such important projects.”
 
Dr Sarika Kulkarni, Founder of the Raah Foundation, said, “Raah Foundation is proud to partner with Uponor for making the tribal indigenous villages in western India water positive.
Water underpins all social problems, and support from Uponor will help us break the vicious circle of extreme poverty, desperation and helplessness and facilitate a virtuous circle of change, transformation and growth.”

How Uponor supports the UN Sustainable Development goals
Uponor’s sustainability agenda is built on the basis of the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals (UN SDGs). Uponor has identified four key SDGs where it can contribute and make a difference: Climate Action, Decent Work and Economic Growth, Responsible Consumption and Production, as well as Clean Water and Sanitation.
 
The Raah Foundation
Based in Mumbai, the Raah Foundation (www.raahfoundation.org/) is an NGO that was founded in 2011 with the aim of improving the lives of India’s impoverished villages by redefining and redirecting water usage. The efforts of the Raah Foundation have led to an overall water capacity of 907.5 million litres per year in 95 different villages, ensuring water security for 30,000 people in these tribal communities, who can now live in their villages without having to migrate to the cities because of water scarcity.