Application: Municipal Services

Xylem Corporation has donated portable water purification units and replacement parts to support the humanitarian efforts in China’s Sichuan Province following the devastating earthquakes there.

The equipment is valued at $290,000, and will provide nearly 55,000 litres of safe drinking water per hour for quake victims living in relief shelters. Xylem executive leaders and technicians are currently in Sichuan to train local workers to operate the equipment.

The response was fast, with lessons learned from supporting disaster victims in Sri Lanka in 2004. The equipment will satisfy more than 200,000 people with clean water, which is treated from surface water sources where there is an absence of electricity.

The units are simple to operate, and will help relief workers to prevent the spread of
diseases such as cholera and giardiasis.

Xylem and its employees have also donated nearly $250,000 to support quake survivors throughout the region, in addition to a donation of $100,000 to UNICEF to support the victims of Cyclone Nargis in southern Myanmar (formerly Burma).