Supporting Coffee Farmers: Our Latest Donation to Project Waterfall

At the start of November, we donated £2,154 to Project Waterfall as part of our pledge to donate 5% of Bean & Dunne coffee sales to charity. As a Cumbria-based coffee roastery, we’re committed not only to roasting high-quality speciality coffee, but also to supporting the communities that grow the beans we roast. With this in mind, we thought it would be a good time to share some of the work Project Waterfall do.

Simply put, Project Waterfall bring clean water, sanitation and education to coffee-growing communities around the world. With water being such a key part of brewing great speciality coffee, supporting Project Waterfall is a no-brainer.

While 696 million people around the world don't have access to clean water, we enjoy and often take for granted the filtered pure water in our daily coffee. The majority of those 696 million live in rural and isolated areas — the same regions where much of the world’s Arabica coffee is grown. Coffee is a water-intensive crop with a large water footprint, and the communities producing our coffee face a significant water crisis.

The Benefits of Clean Water

• Improving sanitation and health, with 1.6 million people dying every year from water-related diseases.

• Empowering women and children who no longer have to spend hours each day collecting water — often carrying up to 20 kilos — reducing physical strain and offering more time for education and income.

• Building stronger communities with greater access to education, improved livelihoods and a better quality of life.

Project Waterfall’s Work

Project Waterfall works with local partners to hand dig or drill wells, helping to bring long-term water solutions to coffee-producing regions. They also provide education on maintaining and caring for wells and improve water quality using bio sand filters or purification systems.

You can read more about Project Waterfall’s work here.