Providing Clean, Safe Water to Communities in India
Written by Amanda Davis | Sr. Manager, CR and Environment
Gen Blog | People & Impact
For eight years, we have partnered with Planet Water Foundation to help bring clean water to India's rural population. Employee volunteers from our office in Pune have joined Planet Water staff each year on World Water Day to build AquaTowers in rural schools, not only expanding access to safe water for drinking and sanitation but also providing hygiene education for the wider community.
These efforts are part of our company-wide culture of giving, which empowers our teams to use their skills, time and passions to make an impact in their local communities. Confronting India's growing water scarcity crisis is important to our team members in India.
The Ministry of Water Resources found that the country's average water availability per capita qualifies the region as 'water-stressed,' and even in communities that have regular access to water, it isn't always safe to drink. Yale University's 2024 Unsafe Drinking Water Index ranked India 144th out of 180 countries, placing people of all ages at greater risk of waterborne diseases that can cause health problems, financial hardship due to missed work and gaps in education due to missed school.
At Gen, we're doing our part to change that. Since the start of our partnership with Planet Water, our work has:
Bringing Clean Water to Our Communities
Rural regions in India are at an increased risk of water scarcity. Villagers must travel long distances to collect water from far-away access points, a responsibility that often falls on women and children. Planet Water's AquaTower installations significantly reduce that burden, bringing water access to the center of the community.
The AquaTower is a water filtration system capable of producing 1,000 liters (~265 gallons) of clean drinking water per hour and functions as a handwashing station for students. The system is also open to the wider community, expanding access to health and hygiene resources.
This year's build took place on March 26 at the ZPPS Valti school in Pune, which serves 116 elementary and middle-grade students in a rural community of 3,000 people. Eleven volunteers from our office in Pune joined the effort this year, further demonstrating our commitment to supporting the communities where we work and live.
'The families in our village get water from the well even if it is not safe for drinking,' said Santoshi Purushottam Sutar, a teacher at the ZPPS Valti school. 'Now, we would not worry anymore about where to get clean water for our students because Gen built an AquaTower in our school.'
Improving Hygiene Community-Wide
When clean water is scarce, residents are forced to drink contaminated water, which can carry diseases and lead to frequent illness. Students and their families who are sick often miss school and work and incur higher healthcare costs. The AquaTower not only reduces the spread of disease but also helps students attend school more regularly, supporting the overall growth of the community.
This year's project is one of dozens of similar initiatives Planet Water organized for this year's World Water Day, all in support of progress toward the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 6 of achieving water and sanitation for all by 2030. The organization has reached more than 4.5 million people in 31 countries since 2009.
Our work with Planet Water Foundation is part of our efforts to manage our environmental impacts and empower our employees to care for the environment. You can read more about our environmental stewardship efforts in our Social Impact Report.
This grant was awarded from the Gen Foundation, a corporate advised fund of Silicon Valley Community Foundation.
Visit 3BL Media to see more multimedia and stories from Gen Digital Inc.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Newsweek
18 hours ago
- Newsweek
Senior Rescue Dog Who 'Lived Outside For 15 years' Making Up For Lost Time
Based on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources. A rescue dog who has spent almost all of her life living outdoors is finally getting to experience some much-deserved home comforts. Veronica Pflueger, a development director at Hope Animal Rescue, a non-profit in North Carolina, shared footage to her Instagram, @wethreepitties, showing the moment she found 17-year-old rescue dog Sheba enjoying a nap on her bed. It's well-earned to say the least. "Sheba was surrendered to a local county animal in May of 2023 after her previous owner unfortunately lost his housing and couldn't take her with him," Pflueger told Newsweek. "She was 15 at the time and had spent her entire life living outside prior to being surrendered. The first half of her life was spent on a chain. Then another local non-profit provided and built a metal run and enclosure for her outside so she would at least be unchained." Sheba has fully converted to becoming an inside dog who loves nothing more than napping. Sheba has fully converted to becoming an inside dog who loves nothing more than napping. wetheepitties/instagram Pflueger first met Sheba after the local shelter reached out to Hope Animal Rescue for help. "Given Sheba's age at the time she was surrendered and the condition she was in—she had skin issues, oral issues, and was heartworm positive—she was an urgent placement need for the shelter so they reached out to see if we had a foster home available," she said. Pflueger has been fostering dogs for a decade but had never taken on a senior dog before. She found herself drawn to helping Sheba though. "For whatever reason I couldn't get her out of my head and no one else or any other rescues were willing to take her so we said yes," Pflueger said. Having initially agreed to foster Sheba, within months Pflueger had decided to adopt. They recently celebrated two happy years together with Sheba, now 17, transformed from a struggling senior shelter dog to an "indoor couch queen that enjoys the finer things in life." Those finer things include frequent naps, regular snuggles with one of Pflueger's other dogs and being petted by her husband. "I think she might be in love with him," Pflueger said. Sheba also helps look after any of the new fosters that arrive in the house. Read more Most popular dog breeds with Gen Z, X, millennials and baby boomers Most popular dog breeds with Gen Z, X, millennials and baby boomers "Sheba is in retirement," Pflueger said. "She had never had a comfy dog bed before, let alone a couch or human bed to sleep on. Once we introduced her to these comfy spots, she decided that's where she was always meant to be and we'd often find her jumping up on the couch or choosing to wander down to our bedroom for an afternoon nap in our bed." Pflueger shared heartwarming footage to her @wethreepitties Instagram showing Sheba making up for lost time with a nap on his mom's bed. On the clip, which has been viewed 2 million times since being shared in February, Pflueger can be seen going over to pet her pooch companion and, for a brief moment, it looks as if Sheba is smiling. "There is honestly nothing better than seeing a dog who lived outside for 15 years sleep peacefully on a comfy, cozy bed," she said. "It may seem like an insignificant thing for lots of other dogs, but for her those moments are everything because she quite literally never had that before." Sheba might have lived much of her life as an "outdoor dog" but most experts agree there is no such thing. As Rob Halpin from Massachusetts Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals explained to The Dodo: "Keeping pet dogs outside consigns them to a life of loneliness and frustration. "Dogs are highly social animals whose ancestors and cousins—the wolves—live in packs. Wolves hunt together, sleep together and play together," he said. "Dogs don't have packs. They only have us. Depriving dogs of human companionship by forcing them to live outside blunts their natural desires and is its own form of animal cruelty." The thought of Sheba spending all that time outside is difficult for Pflueger to contemplate. "It honestly breaks my heart to think that she spent 15 whole years sleeping on the ground or in a plastic igloo... especially given how much she LOVES all of the comfiest spots in our home," she said. Thankfully, that's all in the past now. "When we took her in, we vowed to make sure she was comfy and cozy and in a peaceful and warm environment for the rest of her life," she said. It's a promise Pflueger has certainly delivered on.
Newsweek
2 days ago
- Newsweek
Gen Z's Trauma Therapy Compared to Millennials, Boomers
Based on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources. Newsweek AI is in beta. Translations may contain inaccuracies—please refer to the original content. Gen Z may have a reputation for being the weakest generation, but their trauma therapy habits indicate they are not too different from their millennial and Gen-X elders. Baby Boomers, however, show a reluctance to seek help for traumatic experiences. In a new report from Rula Health, Americans' therapy habits were analyzed by generation. Baby Boomers' reluctance for trauma therapy may be defined by their upbringing. "Their reluctance to seek trauma therapy reflects a generation that was told to suck it up, repress everything, and call it strength," Driscoll told Newsweek. Why It Matters Gen Z, which includes those aged roughly from 12 to 28, has been reported as more likely to deal with mental health issues, with some employers and elders seeing them as a "softer" generation. A survey by Talker Research for Traditional Medicinals found that 19 percent of respondents under 18 had taken a mental health day in the past few weeks alone. Meanwhile, 65 percent of Baby Boomers said they had never called in sick due to stress. Additionally, a 2023 Gallup survey found that just 15 percent of Gen Zers reported their mental health as excellent, a substantial drop from the decade before when 52 percent of millennials in the same age range reported their mental health as excellent. Elyssa Thelin, a substance use disorder counselor and art therapist at the Cielo Treatment Center, talks about how people use art as therapy for their feelings and trauma at the Cielo Treatment Center for drug... Elyssa Thelin, a substance use disorder counselor and art therapist at the Cielo Treatment Center, talks about how people use art as therapy for their feelings and trauma at the Cielo Treatment Center for drug addiction rehabilitation and mental health in Portland, Oregon on January 24, 2024. More PATRICK T. FALLON/AFP via Getty Images What To Know When it comes to the generations and trauma therapy, there are fewer differences than one might expect. The new Rula Health report found those aged 18 to 24 (considered older Gen-Zers) sought therapy due to trauma 31.6 percent of the time, with those aged 25 and 34 (oldest of Gen-Z and the younger half of millennials) also seeking help for trauma at 30.8 percent. Even in the older age group of 45 to 54 (Gen-X), 30.1 percent reported they were going to therapy for trauma. The number only significantly dipped off at age 55 to 64 (the oldest of Gen-X and younger Boomers), when only 16.9 percent were in therapy for trauma, and even less, 10.3 percent of those aged 65 and older (Baby Boomers) said they went to therapy due to trauma. This reflects that Baby Boomers are the real outlier when it comes to their views on trauma and therapy, said Bryan Driscoll, an HR consultant who specializes in generational differences. "Their reluctance to seek trauma therapy reflects a generation that was told to suck it up, repress everything, and call it strength," Driscoll told Newsweek. "But unaddressed trauma doesn't go away - it just turns into bad parenting, addiction, rage, and broken families. Boomers don't dodge therapy because they're tougher than younger generations. They dodge therapy because they've been shamed out of it." Relationship therapist Joy Berkheimer, who is also the founder of Joy Collective, echoed this sentiment. "The reluctance among many Boomers to seek therapy reflects deeper cultural, societal, and historical contexts," Berkheimer told Newsweek. "They were raised in a time where mental health stigma was stronger, and seeking help could be seen as a sign of failure or weakness." Across the board, 54 percent of those in therapy were seeking it for help with anxiety, with 52.9 percent going due to depression. A similar rate to those in therapy for trauma (26.8 percent) were seeing a professional for stress or burnout at 33.1 percent. Those aged 45 to 54 reported the highest rates of anxiety and burnout, while those aged 55 to 64 showed the highest rates of depression. What People Are Saying Bryan Driscoll, an HR consultant who specializes in generational differences, told Newsweek: "This data doesn't show Gen Z and other younger generations are weak. It shows they're more self-aware and more willing to confront pain head-on, rather than bury it under a 'just deal with it' mentality. What people too often label as weakness is actually emotional literacy. Older generations were raised to believe therapy was for people who were broken. Gen Z knows it's for people who want to break cycles." Monica Cwynar, a licensed counselor and social worker with Thriveworks, told Newsweek: "Baby boomers (ages 55–64) and older generations show much lower rates of therapy-seeking behavior, particularly at only 16.9 percent. Their lower rate of engagement can reflect a cultural background shaped by different societal norms around mental health, where there has traditionally been a stigma associated with seeking help. Boomers are more likely to emphasize resilience, self-reliance, and the belief that personal struggles should be handled privately, that seeking help is a weakness, resulting in a hesitance to seek external support like therapy." Relationship therapist Joy Berkheimer, also the founder of Joy Collective, told Newsweek: "The data clearly does not support the narrative that Gen Z is 'weaker.' Instead, it shows that all generations are increasingly recognizing the importance of mental health, though their methods and comfort levels differ. What we're witnessing is a shift in cultural norms: more openness, less stigma, and greater access." What Happens Next Berkheimer said on a larger level, Gen Z is breaking down the stigmas around mental health and trauma, which could impact how people engage with therapy moving forward. "This generation is more likely to openly seek therapy, prioritize emotional well-being, and engage in practices that emphasize healing and self-awareness... In contrast, older generations may have been conditioned to view therapy as a last resort or a sign of weakness, often due to cultural and societal taboos rooted in stigma and distrust."
Associated Press
3 days ago
- Associated Press
Gen Named One of America's Best Cybersecurity Companies for 2025 by Newsweek
We're proud to announce that Gen has been named one of America's Best Cybersecurity Companies for 2025 by Newsweek! It's a testament to how our family of brands is making a difference, whether it's protecting your data, securing your devices or supporting your financial wellness. Big thanks to our team. And thanks to all of the people, all over the world, who trust us to help safeguard their digital lives. View the full list: Visit 3BL Media to see more multimedia and stories from Gen Digital Inc.
