Member Article

Washington-based company AquAid hits target of raising £500,000 for Third World clean water charities

Husband and wife business owners Gordon and Emir Dobson who set their company the challenge of raising £500,000 in 20 years for water-based charities have hit their target almost to the day!

The couple, who run Washington-based water cooler supplier AquAid, came up with the ambitious aim when they launched their franchise on the Pattinson North Industrial estate two decades ago.

Now they’re celebrating not only 20 years in business but half-a-million pounds raised and tens of thousands of lives transformed by the provision of clean water in poorer countries.

Gordon said: “We’re both thrilled and very proud of everyone in the company who has contributed over the years to hit the target.

“We knew we were aiming high but we always thought we had a chance of reaching the target - maybe not just to the exact month!”

Money raised from the profits of their business was donated to Christian Aid and The Africa Trust, (formerly Pump Aid), and invested in bringing clean water to people in Malawi, Zimbabwe and Ethiopia.

AquAid Washington has helped fund more than 1,000 sustainable wells in those countries, the vast majority sited outside schools, so pupils have access to clean drinking water.

Both Gordon and Emir have been out to Africa over the years to see the life-changing effects of the money their company has raised, pitching in digging the wells.

Emir said: “Access to fresh, clean water is just something that people in the UK are lucky enough to be able to take for granted.

“But in the countries we’ve tried to help in Africa, access to clean water is often a real struggle with people having to travel miles for it, if they can get it at all. “It’s the difference between being ill and being healthy and sometimes the difference between life and death.” AquAid Washington, delivers water coolers and dispensers to offices, homes and schools across the region, starting out with one van in 2002 but now boasting a whole fleet servicing customers from south of the Tyne, down into North Yorkshire.

The company has always had a very strong ethical code and made the decision early to combine business and charity and donate a percentage of their profit on each sale to help provide fresh water to people in third world countries.  Gordon said: “As well as donating charity funds through our drinking water we also get actively involved with our partners to help raise as much as we can.” Over the years, the Washington company has grown in size and scale and increased donations with every expansion.

“What went from a very ambitious target at the start came more and more in reach as the years passed and at one stage a few years back it looked as though we would get there comfortably,” explained Gordon.

“But then came the Covid-19 pandemic, which closed so many businesses and schools down and it was looking tighter.

“Things bounced straight back though after restrictions were lifted and when we checked our June accounts we found we had made our original target.

“Water coolers save lives and every watercooler we site for a customer in the North East can raise enough money to bring two children water for the rest of their lives.

“It is a great way for businesses and schools to really help. “Thousands of children die every day as a result of diseases caused by unclean water and poor sanitation and we want to be part of the generation that stopped that happening.

“We are very proud of what we have managed to achieve and would like to say a big thank you to all our customers who have supported us and helped us to reach this milestone.”

Of the 783 million people, (roughly one in 10 of the world’s population), who are without access to clean water, 40% live in sub-Saharan Africa, and more than 320 million people lack access to safe drinking water.

AquAid’s efforts to help tackle the issue has won praise from water-based agencies over the years and the chief executive of The Africa Trust, Ian Thorpe, wrote to them personally to thank the company on its landmark achievement.

“Many congratulations on your 20th anniversary for the Tyne and Wear franchise of AquAid,” Thorpe said. 

“I was astonished to learn that your franchise has raised such an extraordinary amount of money for charity - including £240k for Christian Aid’s World Water Charities.

“Your franchise alone has enabled The Africa Trust to establish a lifetime supply of clean water for over 50,000 people. 

“Thank you for the part you and your colleagues are playing in lifting people out of poverty to live healthier and more productive lives.

“There are many ways in which having safe clean water in a village helps to lift people out of poverty. 

“Water-borne disease causes more deaths and days lost due to illness than anything else in Africa. 

“A clean water supply in a village also reduces the need for girls to make long perilous journeys to collect water, and means they can spend more time in school.”

The couple plan to continue their charitable efforts. 

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Graeme Anderson .