💧World Water Day: Why Access to Water Strengthens Food Security and the Role of Rural Women

Gisella Djenderedjian – General Manager of Dvigi.

Access to safe drinking water remains one of the most urgent challenges of the 21st century. Although it may seem like a guaranteed right, over 2.2 billion people worldwide lack secure access to water, and this has devastating consequences, especially in rural communities.

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), more than 485,000 people die each year from diarrheal diseases linked to the consumption of contaminated water. This reality hits women and children hardest, as they are often primarily responsible for collecting water in rural areas. This task not only exposes them to physical risks but also keeps them away from educational and work opportunities, perpetuating cycles of poverty and inequality.

Accessible Technology to Improve Water Security

In this scenario, technology presents itself as a fundamental ally in the fight to guarantee water security. In particular, ultrafiltration systems have consolidated as an effective, sustainable, and low-cost solution to improve access to water and sanitation in contexts where water infrastructure is limited or nonexistent.

This technology allows the removal of bacteria, viruses, and sediments without the need for electricity or chemicals, making it a viable tool for vulnerable communities. Furthermore, it contributes to improving water quality, which is vital for preventing waterborne diseases and improving overall well-being.

How Ultrafiltration Works

Ultrafiltration is a purification process that uses membranes with extremely small pores to remove contaminants from water. In the case of purifiers developed by Dvigi, this system is combined with activated carbon and sediment filters, achieving complete purification without removing essential minerals from the water.

“Our purifiers combine ultrafiltration technology with activated carbon and sediment filters, eliminating impurities and improving water taste. We want to be part of the solution to the global water problem,” explains Gisella Djenderedjian, General Manager of Dvigi.

These systems are designed to be simple to install, easy to maintain, and durable, making them especially suitable for communities that do not have constant access to technical services or infrastructure.

A Sustainable Approach with Community Impact

Beyond its efficiency, Dvigi’s technology has a clear focus on sustainability. By not requiring electrical energy or generating polluting waste, it aligns with principles of water conservation and sustainable water management.

In collaboration with Agua Segura, Dvigi works on filter implementation projects in rural communities across Latin America. These initiatives not only improve access to safe drinking water but also strengthen the social fabric through:

• Awareness workshops on responsible water use.
• Training in hygiene and healthy habits (WASH).
• Training for the use and maintenance of the systems.
• Promotion of corporate water responsibility by technology provider companies.

Each project is conceived as part of a comprehensive approach that prioritizes community education and long-term sustainability.

Community Projects with Real Impact

The community water projects in which Dvigi participates are designed to generate a transformative effect. Daily access to safe water implies a radical change in health, development, and life opportunities in rural communities.

Furthermore, by freeing women and girls from the responsibility of fetching water, greater access to education and economic participation is enabled, contributing to gender equality.

These projects also reinforce the communities’ resilience to the water crisis, which intensifies with phenomena such as droughts, extreme rainfall, or contamination of surface sources.

Complement to Ecosystemic Strategies

Although ultrafiltration technology operates at the household level, it is also part of a broader approach that recognizes the importance of protecting water sources. That is, it is not enough to purify water at the end of the process: it is also essential to take care of what happens in the natural environment.

Therefore, Agua Segura articulates this technological solution with other nature-based solutions for water strategies, such as:

• The restoration of aquatic ecosystems.
• The recharge of aquifers through soil conservation.
• The protection of watersheds.
• The improvement of agricultural practices to prevent contamination.

These approaches mutually reinforce each other: while the environment is preserved, immediate tools are provided to ensure safe consumption in homes.

Technology with Purpose

“Our commitment is to improve the quality of life in the regions that need it most, using sustainable technology that transforms access to water,” says Djenderedjian.

Dvigi’s mission is clear: to make access to safe water not a privilege, but a right accessible to everyone. Each installed filter represents an opportunity to break the cycle of disease and exclusion.

In contexts where investment in traditional infrastructure takes years or is unfeasible, these technologies represent immediate, effective, and low-environmental-impact solutions for household water replenishment.

Conclusion: Innovation for the Right to Water

The water crisis demands multiple responses, from ecosystem restoration to the development of appropriate technologies for each reality. Dvigi’s experience demonstrates that social and technological innovation can be part of a comprehensive, people-centered solution.

Ultrafiltration systems not only purify water: they open doors to health, education, and community development. In partnership with organizations like Agua Segura, this technology transforms into a tool to build a fairer, more resilient, and healthier future for all.

Every June 5th, the world pauses to acknowledge something that should be self-evident: the planet we inhabit has limits. World Environment Day, led by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), is an opportunity to bring the most urgent environmental challenges onto the agenda and call for collective action.

This year, at Agua Segura, we want to address a connection that often goes unnoticed: the relationship between plastics and the water crisis. A relationship that is not metaphorical. It is chemical, ecosystemic and deeply territorial.

Plastic Does Not Disappear. It Fragments and Reaches Our Water

When plastic is not properly managed, it does not disappear. It breaks down into increasingly smaller particles — known as microplastics — which end up in rivers, watersheds, aquifers and oceans. According to UNEP data, between 9 and 14 million tons of plastic enter the ocean every year. But the problem does not begin or end at sea.

Microplastics have been found in drinking water sources, agricultural soils, fish tissue and human blood. They affect aquatic biodiversity, disrupt the natural cycles of ecosystems and compromise the water quality that entire communities depend on to live, produce and develop.

The plastic crisis and the water crisis are not two separate problems. They are two symptoms of the same model of production and consumption that ignores the natural limits of the planet.

Water Security and Biodiversity: An Interdependent System

At Agua Segura we work with this reality on the ground every day. We know that water security cannot be guaranteed by infrastructure alone. It depends on healthy ecosystems, functional watersheds, soils with strong infiltration capacity and communities with the ability to care for and manage the resource.

When ecosystems become contaminated — by plastics, agrochemicals or industrial waste — that chain breaks down. Wetlands lose their retention capacity. Degraded soils no longer filter as they once did. Communities that depend on surface or groundwater sources become vulnerable.

That is why talking about the environment on June 5th also means talking about water. And talking about water means talking about the natural systems that sustain it: forests, wetlands, soils, rivers and aquifers. All of them threatened, among other things, by plastic pollution.

What Can Companies Do?

Organizations have a role that cannot be delegated. Not only because plastic and water are part of their value chains, but because they have the capacity to scale solutions that reach far beyond their own operations.

This year, together with Unplastify, we developed a series of special proposals for corporate teams looking to engage with this agenda in a concrete, meaningful and transformative way:

Inspirational talk: a awareness session on the impact of plastics on water, nature and communities. Ideal for building internal awareness and opening sustainability conversations within teams.

Solutions design workshop: a participatory session to co-create concrete responses to plastic and water challenges. An activity that combines creativity, collaboration and purpose.

Clean-up day: a collective action experience in contact with urban nature. Because change is also built with your hands.

These proposals are not just team-building activities. They are opportunities for organizations to integrate the environmental agenda from within — with teams that understand the problem, commit to solutions and build a culture of sustainability.

June 5th Is a Date. The Commitment Is Permanent

World Environment Day serves an important purpose: it makes the crisis visible. But the environmental crisis has no expiration date and cannot be resolved with a single awareness event. It requires strategic decisions, sustained investment and the willingness to change production and consumption models that have decades of inertia behind them.

At Agua Segura we believe that companies that understand this have a real competitive advantage: they build resilience before scarcity forces them to. They design solutions before regulators require them. They generate value for their territory before social conflict demands it.

Plastic in water is not just an environmental problem. It is an indicator of how an organization relates to the ecosystem it depends on. And changing that is possible, measurable and necessary.

Does Your Company Want to Activate Environment Day With Real Impact?

Together with Unplastify we design tailored proposals for teams that want to go beyond communication and connect with concrete environmental action. Talks, workshops and clean-up days designed to generate awareness, creativity and commitment.

If you are interested in exploring how we can support your organization this June 5th — and beyond — reach out to coordinate a call. We are here to help you design a water and environmental impact strategy that makes sense for your company and your territory.

Contact us at aguasegura.com and let’s talk.

Manuel Sauri – CEO of Agua Segura

At Agua Segura, we develop, manage, and implement water footprint mitigation projects across the continent. We’ve engaged with dozens of new communities and launched nature-based solutions and WASH (Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene) projects that have positively impacted thousands of families in the region.

For our team, the right to safe water is the driving force that pushes us to keep expanding our horizons and finding solutions to a problem that knows no borders. The water supply crisis affects nearly every corner of the planet and has been identified as the fourth greatest risk to society over the next decade. Food security, access to healthcare, soil and groundwater contamination, and the destruction of productive ecosystems are just some of the alarm bells ringing as we view the world through the lens of the “climate crisis.”

That’s why at Agua Segura, we insist on changing the way we approach the challenges of a development model that emphasizes the transformative opportunity of investing in green solutions. There’s no need to wait for change to happen elsewhere, at another time, or within large institutions. Any company that invests in water can generate a positive impact on its business model by increasing productivity, reducing commercial risks, developing secure supply chains, and strengthening both its social license to operate and its reputation.

This is the core of our company: getting global companies on board the water economy train by advising, supporting, and adapting impact programs to address the specific challenges each company faces. The power of our project lies in these strategic alliances, which help shape the society we want to live in—a world where everyone feels responsible for water and its use. Only then will it be a right accessible to all, enabling communities to thrive in safe ecosystems, while the private sector becomes a driving force for sustainable transformation and a leader in environmental stewardship.

This cooperation is already underway. The relationship between corporations and companies specializing in solutions to the socio-environmental crisis we inhabit is growing ever closer and more prosperous. Numerous projects are embracing this new understanding of the economy, where there is no business unless it is sustainable.

This overarching approach guides our strategic mission, for which we work every day, offering local solutions to global problems. We believe it sets a clear path toward reinventing the world we want to live in.