Water for People Canada (WFP-C) helps people in developing countries improve their quality of life by supporting sustainable drinking water, sanitation and hygiene projects. The mission of the Western Canada Section of WFP-C is to promote awareness of the drinking water and sanitation problems in developing countries and encourage donations and support for fundraising activities to support WFP projects that are addressing these problems.

Water for People was started in 1991 by the American Water Works Association (AWWA). This is a North American organization of individuals, companies, and municipalities that are responsible for ensuring safe drinking water in North America. The Association recognized that an estimated 1.3 billion people in the developing world do not have access to safe and plentiful drinking water and almost 2 billion people do not have adequate sanitation facilities. The Association believed that it had a moral obligation to do something about this problem.

Many members of AWWA are Canadians and 5 Canadians sit on the Board of Directors of AWWA. Canada wanted to be part of the Water for People program and, in 1995, Water for People Canada was founded as a registered Canadian Charity (Registration No. 898221973 RR 0001). The Western Canada Section of AWWA became active in Water for People Canada in 1996 with a major fundraising event and in 1997 a formal Western Canada Section – Water for People Committee was formed.

The major focus of the organization is to raise funds for WFP projects. The types of projects funded tend to be small, in the area of $500 - $25,000, that are supported by the local people, sustainable, and are very cost effective i.e. the cost per person served is very low.

The other focus of the organization is increased awareness of drinking water and sanitation problems and to encourage people to think about how they can help address these problems.

Since 1991 Water for People and Water for People Canada has worked in more than 450 communities around the world, and directly helped more than 360,000 people obtain safe drinking water, sanitation facilities and health and hygiene education.

All the activities of the organization are done by volunteers and support received from the Western Canada Section of AWWA. The costs associated with this support are covered by the AWWA.  Every dollar donated to Western Canada Section Water For People goes directly to projects.

The Western Canada Section covers Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, and the Northwest Territories. To date the Committee has been most active in Alberta. We have subcommittees now in Calgary as well as in Manitoba. We are actively seeking volunteers in Saskatchewan.