Children International teams With Black & Veatch to bring water resources to serve children in India

KANSAS CITY, Mo. – Black & Veatch, a global engineering, consulting and construction leader, is providing clean, safe drinking water to impoverished children and their families supported by Children International, a U.S.-based humanitarian organization, by funding construction of water wells in India.

Black & Veatch’s Building a World of Difference Foundation funded the construction of four tube wells near Kolkata, India where approximately 300 families and 250 children attending a nearby school are benefiting from new sources of water.

"Each of these wells will provide clean drinking water to families who would otherwise not have it. This is a very tangible way that Black & Veatch helps make a difference in the world," said Dean Oskvig, President and CEO of Black & Veatch’s global energy business. Mr. Oskvig also serves as the Chairman of Children International’s Board of Directors.

In India, building tube wells is a good method to provide clean water to communities. A tube well is a type of water well in which a long 5 – 8 inch pipe is bored into the water table. The lower end is fitted with a strainer, and a pump at the top lifts water to fill a concrete reservoir to facilitate bathing or washing. The wells are then used as a community water source for families lacking running water.

The Building a World of Difference Foundation is committed to improving the infrastructure of communities where Black & Veatch works, as well as focusing on the betterment of education, health and human services, the environment, and public safety and emergency services. This commitment is also underscored by the fact that many of the children and families who will benefit from the tube wells live on less than $1.25 a day, in greatly under-developed, poverty stricken areas.

Children International provides children around the world with medical and dental care, educational support and critical life-skills which help them become healthy, self-reliant adults.

Children International President and CEO Jim Cook said, "We are grateful to Black & Veatch for its generosity. It truly is building a world of difference in the lives of hundreds of children living in poverty in India."