The Worth of Water

From the founders of nonprofits Water.org & WaterEquity Gary White and Matt Damon, the incredible true story of two unlikely allies on a mission to end the global water crisis for good

On any given morning, you might wake up and shower with water, make your coffee with water, flush your toilet with water and think nothing of it.

But around the world, more than three-quarters of a billion people can t do any of that because they have no clean water source near their homes. And 1.7 billion don t have access to a toilet. This crisis affects a third of the people on the planet. It keeps kids out of school and women out of work. It traps people in extreme poverty. It spreads disease.

It s also solvable. That conviction is what brought together movie actor Matt Damon and water expert and engineer Gary White. They spent years getting the answer wrong, then halfway right, then almost right. Over time, they and their organization, Water.org, have found an approach that works. Working with partners across East Africa, Latin America, South Asia, and Southeast Asia, they ve helped over 40 million people access water and/or sanitation.

In The Worth of Water, Gary and Matt take us along on the journey telling stories as they uncover insights, try out new ideas, and travel between the communities they serve and the halls of power where decisions get made. With humor and humility, they illuminate the challenges of launching a brand-new model with extremely high stakes: better health and greater prosperity for people allover the world.

The Worth of Water invites us to become a part of this effort to match hope with resources, to empower families and communities, and to end the global water crisis for good. All the authors proceeds from the sale of this book will be donated to Water.org.

"A heartfelt invitation to get involved in the pursuit of clean water for everyone."
-Kirkus Reviews

"I feel lucky to have been there for that first, fateful meeting—at the Clinton Global Initiative in 2008—between a movie star with a passion for global development and a water and sanitation engineer with years of on-the-ground expertise. More than a decade later, that unlikely pair has helped transform the lives of millions of people around the world through safe water and sanitation. Matt and Gary’s vision is clear, their strategy is smart and effective, and their faith in their fellow human beings is at the heart of everything they do. This book isn't only an exciting read, it's a rewarding and important one."
-President Bill Clinton

"The Worth of Water is a powerful testament to every person’s ability to overcome their own challenges. As Gary White, Matt Damon, and the organization they lead—Water.org—have shown, a small loan can have a transformative effect for families and communities living in poverty. This book tells that story—a story of empowerment, change, and, above all, hope."
-Muhammad Yunus, Nobel Peace laureate 2006

“Healthy people, healthy businesses, healthy societies—all begin with ready access to clean water. This requires all of us, from CEOs to government officials to citizens, to do our part and work together. As the founders of Water.org, Matt Damon and Gary White have been showing the way—and now, thankfully, they’re sharing their story. This book, just like its authors, is brilliantly insightful, full of warmth and humor, and radiates optimism about our ability to create change on a global scale.”
-Indra Nooyi, former chair and CEO, PepsiCo

“White and Damon share a compelling story that hits on the most important factor missing in empowering people around the globe without access to water: giving them a chance to reinvent themselves to gain new opportunities for a higher standard of living. Reinvention is typically done by outsiders fundamentally questioning the assumption bedrock of entire industries, and with water, the notion of using microfinance to fund public services was radical... until it wasn't.”
-Vinod Khosla, founder of Khosla Ventures and cofounder of Sun Microsystems

“Water is the ultimate systems challenge. It is a unique resource that underpins all drivers of inclusive and sustainable growth, and yet we are facing a global gap of 40 percent by the end of the decade. Gary White and Matt Damon have helped develop—and prove—one of the most groundbreaking ideas in decades: that people living in poverty have the capacity to solve this crisis. The Worth of Water describes how they’ve done it—and how closing this gap requires the centrality of those who are still in need.”
-Professor Klaus Schwab, executive chairman, World Economic Forum, and cofounder, Schwab Foundation for Social Entrepreneurship

Autorentext

Gary White and Matt Damon

Klappentext

From the founders of nonprofits Water.org & WaterEquity Gary White and Matt Damon, the incredible true story of two unlikely allies on a mission to end the global water crisis for good

When Oscar-winning actor Matt Damon visited rural Zambia in 2006, the last thing he expected was to become a life-long champion for the battle to end the global water and sanitation crisis. He quickly realized that to make a real impact, he'd need additional expertise.

Enter civil and environmental engineer Gary White. After quitting his consulting job to launch a nonprofit in 1990, he'd become an internationally recognized water and sanitation expert. A chance encounter would set these two unlikely allies on a decades-long mission to bring safe water and sanitation to the world.

Through first-hand accounts of setbacks and triumphs in projects spanning across the world, The Worth of Water illuminates the challenges of building and scaling market-based financial solutions to the global water crisis-and ultimately, empower communities and individuals to make long-lasting investments in their own wellbeing.

Leseprobe

Chapter 1: What the Hell Is the "Water Issue"?

POV: Matt Damon

 

I've spent most of my life telling stories on-screen, not on the page-so as I was thinking about how to begin this book, I thought about how I'd start the movie. We'd fade in on a hut I visited in rural Zambia in 2006. I can still see it clearly in my mind: earthen brick walls, dirt floor, thatched roof. The landscape around it was usually dry, but because this was April, the end of the rainy season, the ground was covered, in parts, with a thin blanket of green. I was sitting outside the hut, waiting for a teenager to get home from school.

 

I was in Zambia because Bono-the rock star who spends his spare time fighting to end extreme poverty-had been pestering me to go. "Pest" is Bono's word. He wears it like a badge of honor. He takes pride in getting people-politicians especially, but others, too-to do things they wouldn't otherwise do, if he wasn't pestering them. The guy is really good at it. Bono believes that seeing poverty up close can change a person's priorities, can compel them to go out and do something about it. So he and his colleagues at the organization he started, DATA-which would eventually become the ONE Campaign-had been pressuring me to join them on a trip to Africa. He'd been pressuring me with the zeal of a telemarketer. He was not going to take no for an answer.

 

My answer wasn't no, exactly. I just had a lot going on in my life. My wife would be seven months pregnant at the time of the trip, and I had only a small window of time before my next movie. So I told Bono it just wasn't a good time. He looked at me and said, "It's never going to be a good time." Which, of course, was totally right.

 

I had no grand illusions about the point of going on this t…