Water Projects at Taylors

VCI water projects at tea & coffee origin

Water is one of the world’s most precious natural resources.

According to the United Nations (UN) 785 million people remain without even basic drinking water. This is true of people living in some of the countries that we source our tea and coffee from. Gathering water can often mean undertaking several walks a day to the nearest source — a task which tends to fall to women and children. And even once water is found it won’t be consistently clean and drinking it can lead to health problems.

As part of our value chain investment work, we collaborate with our suppliers, to fund projects that will support and improve the livelihoods of people in tea and coffee growing communities. Below you can see the timeline of our work in this area since 2012.

2012

Water purification in North America

Along with two of our suppliers in Mexico and Guatemala we invested £8,225 in water purification projects. The aim in Mexico was to purify water coming from rain and rivers for domestic use and in Guatemala we worked to supply 100 families with a water filter costing $37 and then support with set up and maintenance.

2013

8 water projects

8 projects ran in 2013, across tea and coffee regions such as India, Guatemala & Kenya, with a total investment of just over £20,000. Our aims were to protect against water-borne illness, create new sources of water and safe places for water to be stored. These projects benefitted around 10,700 people in families and communities across these countries.

2014

Supporting Tea communities

Supported by KTDA, Assam Company India Ltd and Nandi Tea, we collaborated on 6 projects with a focus on drinking water for tea communities, pipeline work and water collection centres. The total investment was £29,900 with around 10,949 beneficiaries.

2015

Safe water for schools

We invested £73,348 across 4 projects in tea and coffee communities constructing an underground water tank from scratch for a healthy and safe water benefitting approx. 130 people. In Kenya water tanks, gutters and pipes were installed for 50 schools benefitting 16,800 school children & teachers, 10,200 community members and 2 community dispensaries.

2016

Clean water in Uganda

With a total investment of £115,158 we focused on access to clean water in coffee communities. £50,000 was invested with the support of Kawacom to strengthen coffee farmers dependence on water, benefitting 7,300 farmers. In Kenya, with the support of KTDA we invested £50,000 into a project specifically to provide water for schools and communities in this tea catchment area, that’s 13 tea factories in total.

2017

Water nearer home

Reducing the amount of kilometres walked for clean water and providing school children with a safe supply of water was our focus this year. Along with infrastructure development for better working conditions. This work benefitted 3,690 people and on top of that, an additional with 4 villages and 2 schools.

2018

7 projects in East Africa

Working with key suppliers, Gisovu and Nandi we funded the supply of water for schools and communities and we estimate that this work supported and improved the lives of 12,513 individuals and families with a total investment of £117,196.

2019

Water for 500 students

This year we ran 11 projects with a total investment of £98,617. In Brazil we worked with Bourbon Speciality Coffee Specialist to support a unique project to build a water containment box at the mountains in the Assodantas region. This aimed to reduce the rainwater velocity and retain this water at the coffee plots meaning soil humidity could be maintained for healthier crops. In Rwanda, with Gisovu Tea Estate we supplied Gakuta school with clean drinking water, helping more than 500 students.

2020

Covid Fund

Due to Covid, we had to change things up and find new, quick ways to support our suppliers in these tricky and unprecedented times. Our VCI funding switched up and anything that wasn’t a long-term project was moved to our Covid Relief Fund.

2021

The start of project WASH

After a year of strong Covid restrictions, we began project work again, this in Kenya and Uganda, working closely with two long-term suppliers, Kawacom and Nandi Tea. Our work with Nandi started in 2018 with the aim to provide clean and safe drinking water to Kipkimba School, benefitting 850 along with the surrounding community. In 2021 we invested a total of £121,000.

In Uganda with Kawacom, we made a start on a 3 year project called WASH. In this first year we installed 16 portable water systems in villages in and around Sipi Falls.

2022

We invested £238K in clean water projects

We had a busy year, collaborating on 7 projects across tea and coffee with a total investment of £238,488. Project WASH entered its second year with an investment of £85,000 to focus on the restoration of degraded land in coffee areas and planting trees in order to secure water in the soil for better growth and crop health.

Sipi Falls WASH Project

Sipi Falls coffee communities

More projects in water & health

Bringing clean water to the communities in Sipi Falls

We've invested in a 3 year project with Kawacom in Uganda to help bring safe and clean drinking water to their coffee communities of Sipi Falls.

Wash - a 3 year project with Kawacom

Working together for better nutrition in schools

Find out more about the nutrition projects we have run to support healthy diets in adults and children

Nutrition