Splashing out in Zambia

In April 2025, our Technical Director, Joe Lovegrove found himself jetting off to Africa to support Splash Projects in their efforts to provide a long-term and sustainable source of safe drinking water in three villages in Zambia.

Splash Projects is run by ex-military personnel and aims to bridge the gap between the business world and not-for-profit organisations and charities, giving businesses the opportunity to fulfil their Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) ambitions and to put Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) at the forefront of their agendas, and allowing business school students the chance to experience social impact first-hand. They co-ordinate volunteers and donations to pull together impactful, life-changing projects worldwide.

The villages were identified by ECHO, a Zambia-based NGO with a desire to deliver results-oriented interventions that will contribute to positively impacting the quality of life of vulnerable and poor communities, and to improved social well-being.

The three villages, in the Mongu Province all had access to water – to varying degrees - but the only way of making it safe to drink was to boil it (using precious fuel resources) or add chemicals (which they didn’t always have). Sadly, sickness and diarrhoea and even cholera outbreaks are common, with devastating effects, especially in the very young and the very old.

The first village had a bore hole with a hand pump attached, that allowed them to fill buckets and containers close to their homes. The Splash team installed a LifeSaver C1 Community Water Purifier, capable of purifying up to 500,000 litres – enough to provide safe drinking water for up to four years. Team members also installed solar powered lighting, using tools supplied by Bosch, for the communal areas.

The second village already enjoyed solar powered rainwater harvesting and an integrated piped network into various buildings and stand pipes; a C1 was connected to one of the stand pipes, providing a central source of purified drinking water.

The third village had to collect water in buckets from a scoop hole in a field outside of their village. Here, the team attended to help with the drilling of a new bore hole, to make water easier to access. A pump will then be installed and, once funds become available, a C1 will be needed to help keep the residents safe.

One final stop saw the presentation of a LifeSaver Jerrycan to a school in Livingstone to give the children there safe drinking water while taking part in outdoor sports and activities.

In addition to Joe’s time and travel expenses, Icon LifeSaver donated both C1s and the LifeSaver Jerrycan. Villagers were also provided with seeds, seedlings and fruit trees to get their vegetable gardens up and running.

Joe’s thoughts on the project are a mixture of pride and frustration. “The solutions we make are so easy to install and make so much difference to the lives of the recipients, that it’s hard to understand why they aren’t made more readily available to the people that need them. There is no excuse for water poverty in this day and age, it’s simply a case of ensuring the funding is funneled in the right direction. Unfortunately, as a business, we can’t giveaway as much product as we’d like, but we offer charities and aid agencies huge discounts – they just need to get in touch.”

If you have a project that you’d like to discuss, you’ll find more details on our Humanitarian Solutions page.