Splash

What an amazing day on the course! On Friday, September 18, friends and supporters of Splash came together at St. Andrews Golf & Country Club in West Chicago for the 15th annual Antunes Charity Golf Outing.

Splash Founder and Chief Executive Officer Eric Stowe spoke during the day’s events. He was joined by Eje Esangbedo, Chief Partnerships and Development Officer; Lauren Rymer, Director of Philanthropy, US; and Roisin Ford, Global People & Culture Manager.

For nearly 20 years, Antunes has been an invaluable Splash partner, providing the commercial-grade ultrafiltration systems we use to help deliver safe water in schools. Durable, low-maintenance, and designed to handle high volumes, these systems help keep clean water flowing for children day after day.

We are incredibly grateful to the Bullock family and the entire Antunes team for their generosity, commitment, and the care they put into hosting this event each year. To every golfer, sponsor, volunteer, and supporter who contributed, thank you for making the day such a success and for helping turn a great day of golf into cleaner water, healthier schools, and brighter futures for children.

Eldana dreams of becoming a civil engineer and building structures that help communities thrive.

At her school, she has seen what reliable infrastructure can change. Old handwashing stations cracked, taps ran dry, and water was not always safe. Today, filtered drinking water and durable handwashing stations support a healthier school day.

Eldana joined the Hygiene Club to help protect that progress. At lunchtime, she reminds classmates to wash their hands properly and use the filtered drinking stations.

The systems she experiences today are helping shape the future she wants to build.

More student stories: splash.org/impact/stories

Two questions we get often: why focus on schools, and why cities?

Schools, because they are where children spend their days, and where a clean water habit formed early can follow a child home and into adulthood. Cities, because that is where population and need concentrate, and where reaching many schools can add up to something bigger: complete, citywide coverage rather than a scattering of one-off projects.

Focusing on schools in cities allows Splash to reach large numbers of children while helping build systems that can serve every school. It is how individual WASH projects become lasting, citywide change.

As students in many parts of the world return to classrooms this month, millions are returning to schools without basic water and hygiene services.

According to the WHO/UNICEF Joint Monitoring Programme, 447 million children lack access to a basic drinking-water service at school, and 646 million lack handwashing facilities with soap and water.

A healthy school gives every child access to water, handwashing, and a usable toilet throughout the school day. This September, we are talking about what it takes to make that possible.

Source: WHO/UNICEF Joint Monitoring Programme, Progress on Drinking Water, Sanitation and Hygiene in Schools 2015–2023, published in 2024.

splash.org

What an incredible week of conversations, connections, and collaboration at World Water Week.

At our booth, Martin Carter and Lauren Rymer had the opportunity to meet so many inspiring people from across the water and sanitation sector while sharing some of Splash’s newest innovations, including our Durable Tap and handwashing and drinking stations. Each was designed to help WASH infrastructure withstand heavy daily use and keep working in schools over time.

Just before the conference opened, Martin presented the Durable Tap Project at the 36th Sustainable Sanitation Alliance Meeting. Throughout World Water Week, Chris Nicoletti represented Splash International in four sessions focused on sustaining public drinking water services through results-based funding, moving from partnership to government ownership, integrating menstrual health into WASH policy, and measuring whether school WASH services truly meet children’s rights and needs. In each conversation, Chris shared lessons from Splash’s experience delivering WASH at scale in schools.

We also loved connecting with colleagues and partners at events throughout Stockholm, including Coffee Beans and Clean Water, hosted by our partners Project Waterfall and Millennium Water Alliance, and the Menstruation Matters Roundtable hosted by our partner WASH United.

We came home energized by the ideas, new relationships, and opportunities to keep working together. Thank you to everyone who stopped by our booth, joined a session, shared your perspective, or helped make World Water Week such a meaningful gathering.

The Africa Water & Sanitation Systems Leadership Symposium opens today in Kigali, Rwanda, bringing together leaders from across Africa to strengthen water and sanitation systems.

Representing Splash are Baraki Zessalasie Birru, Country Director, Ethiopia, Carole Wanjau, Executive Director, Splash Africa, Katrina Straker, Chief Development Officer, and Mwansa Njelesani-Kaira, Country Director, Zambia.

As leaders discuss investment, regulation, and stronger systems, Splash is bringing the perspective of the children who rely on those systems every day.

Public schools are essential parts of a city's water system. When schools have reliable water, sanitation, hygiene, and menstrual health services, students are healthier, attend school more consistently, and have a better opportunity to learn.

Through Project WISE (WASH in Schools for Everyone), Splash partners with governments to help make every public-school part of a stronger, more sustainable citywide system.

Strong systems should reach every child, every school, every day.

Next week, leaders from across Africa will gather in Kigali for the Africa Water & Sanitation Systems Leadership Symposium to discuss how stronger leadership, financing, and institutions can build more sustainable water and sanitation systems.

Splash will be there with Baraki Zessalasie Birru, Carole Wanjau, Katrina Straker, and Mwansa Njelesani-Kaira.

One number we'll be thinking about is this:

About $38 per school per year keeps a school's water, sanitation, and hygiene system running in Kolkata after it has been handed over to local government. Today, 80% of those schools fund those recurring costs themselves.

Sustainable systems depend on more than infrastructure. They depend on clear responsibilities, predictable funding, and local ownership.

Through Project WISE (WASH in Schools for Everyone), Splash partners with governments to help build systems that continue serving children long after implementation is complete.

Building a water system is the easy part. Keeping it working is the test.

By mid-2025, 80 percent of Splash schools in Kolkata were on a maintenance contract that keeps taps running, toilets usable, and stations stocked.

Maintenance is why the systems last.

Read more: Splash infrastructure study, Kolkata. Splash.org/impact

Desta's name means "joy" in Amharic, and the name fits.

At her school in Ethiopia, the 13-year-old loves science, playing with her classmates, and making her friends laugh. She wants to become a scientist and solve problems through research.

Desta is already putting that curiosity to work. As a member of her school's Hygiene Club, she turns lessons about clean water and handwashing into songs, dramas, and poems that other students remember long after the lesson ends.

She brings joy to the work, and she is proud to help make her school healthier.

Read more of her story at: https://splash.org/impact/stories/desta

We say yes to Period Education for girls, boys, and caregivers.

At Splash, we have learned that supporting girls through menstruation requires more than reaching girls alone. Girls told us they wanted boys to better understand menstruation. Teachers and caregivers wanted practical tools to guide conversations about puberty. Boys had questions too, but were rarely included.

Building on the foundation of WASH United Period Education Guides, Splash and partners developed companion Guides for boys and caregivers. Together, these three resources help create the supportive environments young people need to navigate puberty and menstruation with knowledge and confidence.

This milestone reflects years of collaboration, learning, and shared commitment. We are proud to have contributed alongside WASH United and many other partners working to make Period Education more accurate, inclusive, and accessible.

Explore all three Guides at https://yes-period.org/.