P&G CSDW Program Provides Three Billionth Liter of Clean Drinking Water

CINCINNATI, Feb. 9, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- The Procter & Gamble (NYSE: P&G) Children's Safe Drinking Water (CSDW) Program has provided 3 billion liters of clean drinking water in the developing world through the distribution of 300 million PUR packets.  With the help of global health organizations, World Vision and PSI, P&G was able to distribute the third billionth liter to a family in Rwanda, the latest country where the P&G CSDW Program is operating.

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Dr. Greg Allgood, CSDW Program Director, provided the PUR packets that surpassed the three billionth liter milestone to Claudine and Simon Ngendahimana, a family of subsistence farmers in the southern Rwandan village of Mirama.  

"This is a great milestone for the P&G CSDW Program and our partners because we're helping to improve the lives of millions of people by providing clean water—hard-working people like Claudine, Simon and their children," said Dr. Greg Allgood.   "Unclean water is a cause of frequent infections for Claudine and Simon that cause a lot of suffering and send them to the clinic nearly every month. Their children also frequently have diarrhea from the unsafe water, and the PUR packets offer a way to help the entire family to be healthy."

Dr. Greg Allgood also commented, "Many of these communities are hit hard by HIV/AIDS and tuberculosis and the unsafe water often compounds the misery suffered by individuals in these villages."

PSI and World Vision are two of the many critical partners that have aided the rapid expansion of the P&G CSDW Program.  The first billionth liter of clean water was provided following more than four years of effort, the second billionth liter came in two years, and just ten months for the third billionth liter.  This rapid growth over the past year was spurred by several large responses by the CSDW Program and partners to provide clean drinking water to:

• Pakistan flood survivors (280 million liters)
• Haiti earthquake relief efforts and the subsequent cholera outbreak (140 million liters)
• The expansion of the program to Afghanistan, Cambodia, Namibia and Rwanda

P&G's purpose of touching and improving the lives of the world's consumers drives its commitment to this program.  P&G recently announced a goal to provide more than two billion liters every year in order to save an estimated one life every hour by the year 2020.  The P&G CSDW Program focuses on raising awareness of the global clean drinking water crisis and providing clean drinking water using PUR packets, a water purification product developed by P&G in collaboration with the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).  

About the P&G Children's Safe Drinking Water Program

Procter & Gamble's not-for-profit Children's Safe Drinking Water (CSDW) Program is focused on reducing the sickness and death that result from water-borne illness caused by drinking contaminated water. Since 2004, P&G has partnered with a diverse network of organizations to help distribute PUR packets, which turn 10 liters of dirty, contaminated water into clean drinkable water. To date, the P&G Children's Safe Drinking Water Program has delivered over 3 billion liters of clean drinking water to people in over 60 developing countries. To learn more about the CSDW Program, please visit www.csdw.org.

About Procter & Gamble

Four billion times a day, P&G brands touch the lives of people around the world. The company has one of the strongest portfolios of trusted, quality, leadership brands, including Pampers®, Tide®, Ariel®, Always®, Whisper®, Pantene®, Mach3®, Bounty®, Dawn®, Gain®, Pringles®, Charmin®, Downy®, Lenor®, Iams®, Crest®, Oral-B®, Duracell®, Olay®, Head & Shoulders®, Wella®, Gillette®, Braun® and Fusion®. The P&G community includes approximately 127,000 employees working in about 80 countries worldwide. Please visit http://www.pg.com for the latest news and in-depth information about P&G and its brands.  For more information on P&G's commitment to sustainability, visit: www.pg.com/sustainability.

SOURCE Procter & Gamble