For nearly ten years, we’ve regularly donated a proportion of our profits to Frank Water. With your help we’ve so far managed to raise more than £43,600 for this important cause. This has been enough to provide safe water, for life, to more than 3,633 people. We are continuing this work now by donating 5% of every glassware purchase to give even more people access to clean water.
Why Frank Water?
Our relationship with Bristol-based charity Frank Water began when we met their Founder, Katie Alcott, who visited our lifestyle store in Totnes, Devon. We connected with Katie over a shared love of India, which is where many of our artisans and makers are based. Frequent visits to our suppliers have exposed us to not only the wonder and vitality of this beautiful country, but also to the hardships, inequality and poverty many people living there face, particularly in terms of access to clean water.
Katie started the charity after her own experience of visiting India. Whilst on a gap year, Katie stayed with a local family in Kashmir and suffered from dysentery due to unsafe drinking water. After a gruelling five years of battling with her condition, Katie recovered and has since been passionate about bringing safe drinking water not only to the family she’d lived with, but to many others throughout India and Nepal. Frank Water was born with the aim to help improve the living standards of the poorest communities by going into areas that are often too remote for larger charities and establishing clean water systems. As soon as we heard about the fantastic work Katie and others at Frank Water were doing, we knew we had to support them.
Across the world, 1 in 4 people still live without safe water and 2.1 billion people (that's 1 in 3) have no access to adequate sanitation.
"With your help we’ve so far we've managed to raise more than £43,600 for this important cause. This has been enough to provide safe water, for life, to more than 3,633 people."
Impacting Lives
It's incredible what Frank Water has managed to achieve since it began in 2005. In that time, they have successfully brought sustainable clean water to over 546,059 people in 789 communities in India, Nepal and Kenya. Climate change is accelerating the loss of vital springs in the Himalayas – the “Third Pole” of our planet. In Uttarakhand, Frank Water rejuvenated 10 natural springs, securing water for 3,300 people and enhancing flows for an additional 11,000 downstream. In Nepal’s Kavrepalanchok region, the charity mapped over 480 water sources, launching urgent spring restoration to protect thousands of families.
Environment and Nature-based Solutions
Frank Water work with nature to restore water. In regions where steep terrain, fragile ecosystems and changing rainfall patterns limit water retention, these approaches work with the landscape to improve how water is captured, stored and replenished. They combine hydrogeological assessments with community knowledge to identify the areas where rainwater infiltrates the ground and feeds springs. Based on this, targeted interventions are implemented to slow runoff, increase soil moisture and enhance groundwater recharge. These include contour trenches, infiltration pits, small check dams, vegetative barriers and the restoration of degraded forest and pastureland. Together, these measures help rainwater soak into the ground rather than being lost as surface flow, supporting the revival and long-term sustainability of spring systems and creating landscapes and ecosystems that are resilient to climate change.
"It's incredible what Frank Water has managed to achieve since it began in 2005. In that time, they have successfully brought sustainable clean water to over 546,059 people in 789 communities in India, Nepal and Kenya."
Frank Water's Work in Kenya
Frank Water has also recently launched work in Kenya, following a successful pilot project conducted in 2022. In Kenya, water insecurity has a direct and damaging effect on communities, especially on women and children. 1 in 5 people lack access to safe drinking water, and this is being exacerbated by the increasing effects of climate change. Fragile water systems are disrupted by frequent droughts, floods, and erratic rainfall. They have created the Frank Water Institute, dedicated to strengthening knowledge, capacity and environmental action for sustainable water management. The Institute will translate Frank Water’s two decades of practical experience into training, advisory services and knowledge sharing that support communities, governments, NGOs and businesses to manage water resources responsibly and build climate resilience. They have just concluded their first course, the Certificate in Applied Water Resource Management, which saw over 400 sign-ups from all over the world.
