Safe drinking
water is
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people still lack access to safe drinking water.
Safe Drinking Water Crisis: The Urgency to Act Differently!
For 80% of them, the issue is not the availability of water itself, but rather the quality of the water they consume—leading to devastating consequences for their health and living conditions.
Climate change further exacerbates this situation by weakening existing water supply systems.
The emergence of new solutions
In response to the vital need for safe drinking water, bottled water consumption has seen exponential growth globally. This trend is driven by the ease of access and reliability of bottled water services, which are widely trusted by consumers.
With the Sustainable Development Goals deadline fast approaching, this context highlights a unique opportunity to develop innovative solutions to ensure sustainable access to safe drinking water.
Time to act
Our 3 Funding Pools
In 2025, 1001fontaines is launching three thematic Pools to mobilize additional resources from major donors and strategic partners, and increase its impact.
Development and Innovation Pool
This Pool supports the launch of new projects and the testing of pioneering and innovative bottled water service models. It aims to generate concrete evidence to help scale best practices across the countries where we operate.
Accelerator Pool
The goal of this Pool is to transfer our expertise to new regions by identifying and supporting local partners capable of implementing sustainable bottled water production and distribution services.
Social Programs Pool
This Pool ensures the provision of safe drinking water free of charge to the most vulnerable populations. It sustains existing initiatives (such as the Water in School program), expands this service to reach other vulnerable groups, and opens the door for other organizations to roll out similar programs.
Objective:
Launch new refillable bottled water initiatives. This funding Pool allows us to consolidate existing programs through innovative approaches and test pilot projects in new geographical areas.
What does this Pool fund?
- Pilot project in Nepal: build 2 production units in rural areas and recruit a local team.
- Exploration: study new geographies where our refillable bottled water model could improve access to safe drinking water.
- Innovation: expand awareness campaigns, test new water treatment technologies, optimize production facilities, etc.
- Academic collaborations: launch research projects related to the bottled water market and assess the impacts of climate change on our activities.
Funding needs: $2M over 3 years
Expected impact:
- 2 new projects in 3 years, including Nepal
- 50,000 new consumers and strong growth potential for the following years
- 3 innovative studies, strengthening our analysis of the refillable bottled water model and its visibility in the water sector
- Resilience to climate change integrated into project design
Objective:
Support other local refillable bottled water actors through our expertise.
What does this Pool fund?
- Support to the “Uttaran Paani” project in Bangladesh: set up and support 2 safe drinking water production plants and prepare a replication plan for the southern region.
- Partner identification for model replication: identify projects similar to Cambodian rural water kiosks and Madagascar urban Hub & Spoke model.
- Accelerator structuring: strengthen the 1001fontaines Support team and define collaboration with partner organizations.
Funding needs: $3M over 3 years
Expected impact:
- Transition of “Uttaran Paani” from pilot to scaling phase
- Launch of a partnership with a new local organization
- 50,000 new consumers
Objective:
Expand our existing social programs and enable other organizations to create programs as part of their activities.
What does this Pool fund?
- Continuation of the Water in School program (Cambodia, Madagascar): daily free safe drinking water distribution in schools and behavior change awareness.
- Launch of a social program in Nepal for the most vulnerable communities.
- Expansion of social programs to other organizations, especially those supported by the Accelerator Pool.
Funding needs: $3M over 3 years
Expected impact:
- 500,000 children benefiting from the Water in School program
- Social programs launched in at least 3 new geographies (Bangladesh, Nepal, and one future country)
Fundraising goals
1001fontaines has set 2028 fundraising targets for each Pool, reflecting both the needs observed in the field and our operational expansion roadmap.
Development and Innovation
Pool
Accelerator
Pool
Social Programs
Pool
1001fontaines:
Who We Are?
For over 20 years, 1001fontaines has been delivering bottled water services to provide safe drinking water to underserved communities. We design, implement, and promote local solutions that offer long-term responses to the water crisis and already serve 1 million people in Cambodia, Madagascar and South Asia.
Our approach has sustainability at its heart, driven by hybrid economic models that effectively combine the use of grants for initial investment with self-financing of operations through water sales.
Our vision
To transform bottled water into a truly essential service, delivered through projects implemented in partnership with local stakeholders.
Our ambition
By 2030, grow a community of bottled water actors to provide 2 million people with sustainable access to safe drinking water.