World Water Day 2026: Clean Water Starts With Sanitation
Luckson talking to an event attendee about the EkoLakay toilet.
The global water crisis affects everyone—but not equally.
In Haiti, nearly 50% of the rural population lacks reliable access to clean water. Even in cities where water systems are more developed or accessible, supplies can still be contaminated—sometimes visibly so, with oil-slick surfaces appearing on water drawn from wells. During heavy rains or flooding, rising water tables can also cause waste from pit latrines to mix with groundwater, turning waterways brown and murky.
Ultimately, the promise of clean water begins long before it reaches the tap—it starts with safely managed sanitation.
On March 22, SOIL celebrated World Water Day in northern Haiti. Team members, led by Luckson and Maudeline from Sustainable Organic Integrated Livelihoods (SOIL), joined a lively forum organized by OREPA Nord to share how sanitation solutions safeguard water resources.
The event brought together students from Université d'État d'Haïti (UEH), Université Anténor Firmin (UNAF), and Université Roi Henry Christophe (URCH), alongside youth leaders from U-Report supported by UNICEF.
During the forum, SOIL staff demonstrated how container-based sanitation systems—like the EkoLakay toilet—conserve water while safely managing waste. Unlike conventional flush toilets, which require large amounts of water (about 1.2 gallons per flush), SOIL’s EkoLakay toilets operate entirely without water. Unlike end-of-pipe solutions, safe and circular waste treatment addresses contamination at its origin, making it an elegant upstream approach to protecting water resources.
Students gathered around the EkoLakay toilet demonstrations, engaged and asking questions about how the system works. When SOIL staff passed around samples of the finished compost, they flew like hotcakes—everyone wanted to get their hands on some soil!
This World Water Day, SOIL’s message is simple: protecting water means rethinking how we manage waste.
And the good news? We’ve been at it for 20 years already!
Join us in rethinking water usage and the waste cycle by subscribing to SOIL’s monthly newsletter to learn more about how sanitation solutions can help protect our planet’s most precious resource.