What Doesn't Water Do?!

March 21, 2025

With powerful, life-sustaining properties; unparalleled abilities to protect life, health, and the very fabric of existence; relied upon by every cell, every organism, and every ecosystem for survival, water may very well seem like the ultimate superhero. But having access to it shouldn’t require superpowers. It’s a right.

Though it looks different in different contexts, achieving Sustainable Development Goal 6: Availability and Sustainable Management of Water and Sanitation For All continues to be a pillar of Change for Children’s work. In the Bosawas, Nicaragua, to six-year-old Maxi Braidy, realizing her right to water looks like the combination of a pipe, an elbow, and a valve emerging from the ground and righted by smooth wire wrapped and twisted and coupled to a fencepost for support. The cool, clear water it delivers into Maxi’s hands refreshes nonetheless.

While the Bosawas region has a tropical monsoon climate characterized by distinct wet and dry seasons, water for domestic use is still a challenge. Clean water sources are far from the villages, as many of the rivers have been contaminated by illegal mining and cattle raising. And while some villages have historically had water systems, lack of capacity to maintain the systems and extreme weather events that frequently damage the infrastructure have combined to leave many without.

In Maxi’s village, Change for Children support recently restored a water distribution system that had been inactive for more than 10 years. In combination with the repairs, the water committee was strengthened through training and and equipped to take on the task of system maintenance and the collection of user fees to ensure its sustainability. In all her six years, Maxi Braidy has not had water at home until now. A turn of the green tap handle now delivers water just outside her family’s front door. She drinks it without restraint, she lets it run through her fingers as she washes away the day, and when (she thinks) nobody is looking, she cools herself with wild splashes from small buckets. Big laughter ensues.

Millions of women and girls spend hours daily walking to collect water, often contaminated, for their families. Maxi is no longer one of them. Monday morning, she will turn the little green handle on her family’s very own water tap and fill her small water bottle in the flow. She will carry it to first grade to quench her thirst at recess. From now on, it is the only water walk she will know.

Sure, water sustains crops and plant life making sure food and oxygen are available, and it washes away bacteria as a weapon against disease to keep communities healthy. But the people who support safe water to conserve, protect, and extend its reach to those who need it most are the real superheroes. In celebration of World Water Day, we invite you to make support of safe water your superpower. 

Bosawas Central America and the Caribbean Health In The Field Indigenous Peoples Nicaragua Water