Evidence Action — Safe Water Now

What Evidence Action — Safe Water Now does

Safe Water Now is Evidence Action's program for making drinking water safe through chlorination. In rural Kenya, Uganda and Malawi it installs chlorine dispensers right at the wells, springs and other communal water points where families collect water; in Andhra Pradesh, India, it adds in-line chlorinators to piped water systems. Evidence Action says more than 53,000 dispensers are in use, giving nearly 10 million people access to treated water.

The approach grew out of randomized trials in Kenya led by Nobel laureate economist Michael Kremer and colleagues, which found that putting chlorine at the water source, backed by local promotion, made households much more likely to treat their water. Evidence Action, a Washington, DC nonprofit launched in 2013 to scale evidence-backed programs, keeps the dispensers stocked and maintained, and reports a cost of under $1.70 per person per year.

The charity evaluator GiveWell has followed the program for years. It listed Dispensers for Safe Water as a "standout charity" until it retired that list in 2021, and in 2022 recommended a grant of about $64.7 million to expand it. GiveWell has since lowered its cost-effectiveness estimate, and in 2026 said independent surveys found far lower usage in Uganda and Malawi than first estimated, so it would not renew funding there, while still considering dispenser pilots elsewhere, such as northern Nigeria. Donors can give to Safe Water Now specifically or to Evidence Action as a whole.

Key facts

• 53,000+ chlorine dispensers in use, giving nearly 10 million people access to safe water (Evidence Action program page)
• Cost of less than $1.70 per person per year (Evidence Action program page)
• Evidence Action estimates 15,000+ deaths of children under five averted and 4 million+ diarrhea cases prevented, 2013–2024 (Evidence Action program page, self-reported)
• GiveWell recommended a ~$64.7M grant in January 2022; its 2025 lookback revised the grant's estimated cost-effectiveness from ~7x to ~5x cash transfers (GiveWell)

Before you give

• Gifts can be restricted to Safe Water Now or given to Evidence Action generally (https://www.evidenceaction.org/donate).
• Evidence Action accepts card, PayPal/Venmo, check, ACH/wire, donor-advised funds (DAF Direct), stock, cryptocurrency (via Every.org), corporate matching and legacy gifts (Evidence Action donate page).