Most of us probably never think about the kitchen tap until it stops running. For many people, that worry is a daily one. A 2025 report from the WHO/UNICEF Joint Monitoring Programme showed that 2.1 billion people still lacked safely managed drinking water in 2024. That's around one in four people. It's the kind of gap that led Matt Damon to water work in 2006.
A walk that stuck with him
For Damon, a trip to a Zambian village was a life-changing experience. He was there, walking with a 14-year-old girl who was going to collect water. For many of us, water comes at the turn of a handle. For her, that meant a long walk. Damon and the group that made a documentary about running across the Sahara Desert started the H2O Africa Foundation in 2006. It was intended to raise money and awareness for organizations that delivered clean water to remote communities. Damon later said raising money was a lot easier than spending it wisely. But he didn't stop with that first foundation.
From a small foundation to Water.org
In July 2009, H2O Africa merged with WaterPartners, a nonprofit run by engineer Gary White. The two men co-founded Water.org. White discovered many poor families were already paying for water. That’s the genesis of the group’s flagship program, WaterCredit. Water.org partners with local lenders to offer small loans. Families use the loans to pay for a water connection or a toilet in their home. They return the money over a period of time. Water.org says 89 percent of people who take out these loans are women.
What 92 million really looks like
Water.org has now reached more than 92 million people with safe water or sanitation. It reports to have reached almost 10 million alone in 2025 and hopes to reach 200 million people by 2030. The figures come from the group itself, so they should be read as Water.org’s own counts. These do not mean any change in water access around the world. But they do show how far one idea can go in twenty years. The larger picture is also changing. The same Joint Monitoring Program report found that between 2015 and 2024, 961 million people gained safely managed drinking water. Still, 2.1 billion people did not have it in 2024, so the need remains huge.
What research says about the loan model
{{/usCountry}}Water.org has now reached more than 92 million people with safe water or sanitation. It reports to have reached almost 10 million alone in 2025 and hopes to reach 200 million people by 2030. The figures come from the group itself, so they should be read as Water.org’s own counts. These do not mean any change in water access around the world. But they do show how far one idea can go in twenty years. The larger picture is also changing. The same Joint Monitoring Program report found that between 2015 and 2024, 961 million people gained safely managed drinking water. Still, 2.1 billion people did not have it in 2024, so the need remains huge.
What research says about the loan model
{{/usCountry}}Research on Water.org’s own loans offers a closer look. A 2022 paper published in the Journal of Water, Sanitation and Hygiene for Development examined the Water.org survey data of 2,931 households in West Java and East Java between October 2019 and March 2020. Households that took out loans for water and sanitation needs were better off in sanitation, had a higher average monthly income of 233,000 Indonesian rupiah ($15.55), and spent 28 percent less on health.
The researchers found no link to improved access to water. They highlighted the fact that these are associations and not evidence of cause. The paper also noted that about 29% of the borrowers still did not have a water facility at their premises, which suggests some loan money may have been used for other purposes. The study underscores the importance of lenders tracking how funds are used and suggests, by contrast, that Water.org's loans may be especially effective for toilets, even where they fall short on water access itself.
Two decades on, a long way to go
What began as one actor's reaction to a young girl's long walk for water has become a global effort built on a simple insight: people who are already paying for water can often be helped by access to credit instead of charity. The Indonesian study adds a word of caution. Loans may help families, especially with sanitation, but evidence is associative, and what borrowers do with the money matters. However, with 2.1 billion people still without safely managed drinking water, a single model is unlikely to close the gap alone. But 20 years later, the idea Damon helped launch shows how a small repayable loan can help families gain access to a working tap.