How it all began

The Rotary Clubs Water Projects Ltd is a charitable company that raises funding to support the distribution of Lifestraw water filters for use by individuals, families and communities in areas of poor water quality and areas affected by disasters. Our involvement with LifeStraw® can be traced back to 2005. That was the year that Paul Ringdahl, a member of Brynmawr Rotary Club in South Wales, spotted a small article in a magazine that advertised a water filter called LifeStraw®. The product shone in its simplicity and the plastic straw which contained no chemicals whatsoever was able to turn 1000 litres of contaminated water into safe drinking water.

The article intrigued him, and he contacted Vestergaard Frandsen, the Danish manufacturer. The details contained in their reply then encouraged him to show them to Brynmawr Rotary Club, which was part of Rotary International, a worldwide Organisation with more than 1.2 million members across 200 countries.

Rotary International has six areas of focus including Water and Sanitation and Disease Prevention and Treatment. Therefore, Brynmawr Rotary could see the enormous benefits of introducing this new technology to the millions of people worldwide who were living without access to clean water.

Brynmawr Rotary Club formed the charity, Brynmawr Rotary Water Projects, to promote the LifeStraw® and to raise funds for the purchase of Lifstraws to donate to those in need of safe water.

Over the years the charity has been led by inspirational Rotarians and, despite Paul moving abroad, Brynmawr Rotary grew the charity further. Special mention should also be made of David Dutson, who until his death in 2018 was a member of Brynmawr Rotary. In the early years of the charity David travelled throughout the United Kingdom staying in his camper van for weeks at a time to spread the word of the Project.

With the continued growth of the charity and the increased involvement of Rotarians from other Rotary Clubs, the charity has evolved to become Rotary Clubs Water Projects Limited. It is now a charitable company and is managed by Director/Trustees, not only from the Brynmawr Rotary Club, but a number of other Rotary Clubs. Rotary Clubs Water Projects continues to raise funding to support the distribution of LifeStraw® water filters for use by individuals, families and communities in areas of poor water quality and areas affected by disasters. We work closely with Vestergaard, a non-profit Company, who manufactures the LifeStraw® water filters and with their sister company, Lifestraw, who distribute the water filters around the world. We also work with other charities to support the provision of improved sanitation in developing countries.

Article from Rotary Magazine