Our vision is of a future where everyone, everywhere has access to resilient water resources for generations to come.
Our mission is to alleviate global water poverty, enhance health, and protect the natural environment by improving the way that people understand and use water, with a focus on those most in need.
Frank Water is two organisations that share a single vision: a global water system that can provide everyone, everywhere with access to enough, good-quality water to sustain their livelihoods, protect their health, and unlock their potential, which conserves the environment and, at the same time, maintains peace and political stability.
To achieve this vision, we work overseas and in the UK, through our registered charity (Frank Water Charity/Projects) and our social enterprise (Frank Water CIC) and adapt our approach accordingly. Our work is centered around Sustainable Development Goal 6 – providing access to safe water and sanitation for all by 2030.
How Frank Water began
In 1997, Katie Alcott travelled to India to teach in a school. She got seriously ill from drinking dirty water and returned to the UK to recover. Before she fell ill, she’d noticed that every day, different children came to school. Her class was never the same. Her colleague explained that children were often kept home to help their mothers collect water, or because they were ill – usually with diarrhoea from drinking contaminated water.
Fast forward to 2005 and Katie sets up Frank Water from her office in a cupboard under the stairs. Frank Water starts life as a social enterprise, selling bottled spring water to cafes and restaurants and donating the profits to an NGO in India to fund water projects.
Frank Water Social Enterprise
Frank Water’s UK-based social enterprise delivers various services that raises income to support our charitable programmes but also reinforce our mission to inspire the UK (and beyond) to adopt a more sustainable approach to water.
We support brands and companies in developing and delivering their overseas water stewardship programmes, while managing water security risks in their supply chains, through consultancy using our WASH Connect Platform.
Our Refill schemes (for the events industry and hospitality sector) provide people with a thoughtful, practical, waste-free alternative to single-use. 100% profits from sales of Frank’s bottled spring water (available in recycled glass bottles only) is used to secure long-term access to safe water for communities in India & Nepal. Our partnerships with organisations offering other water-related products and services extend our reach and influence.
