Environment and resourcesProviding a stable supply of potable water and changing people’s livesAccording to the World Health Organization (WHO), approximately 525,000 children under the age of five die from diarrhea-related ill-nesses worldwide each year (as of 2017), and permanent access to safe water remains a pressing issue. Yamaha Motor is confronting this with the Yamaha Clean Water Supply System, a water purification facility using a simple construction and slow sand filtration, a natural water purification method.The system was first developed more than 20 years ago and requires neither significant electric power nor maintenance by a specialist engi-neer. It can also be operated independently by the local residents and the water from nearby rivers and lakes can be made safe to drink. In villages where the system has been installed, cases of diarrhea, fever, abdominal pain, and skin disease have fallen significantly. Moreover, beyond creat-ing a stable supply of clean drinking water, installing the system changes people’s lives in a variety of ways. These include freeing people from having to draw water and allowing them to work and learn instead, and spurring village development through new businesses such as water delivery, water filtration, and ice-making.In 2019, we installed 10 systems in the Senegal River Basin and offi-cially handed them over to the Senegalese government. At the same time, we conducted educational activities to help raise awareness of proper sanitary practices among local residents, including a picture story show in which some 350 children listened with great enthusiasm about the importance of drinking clean water. Yamaha Motor is proceeding with the introduction of these purification systems through collaboration and cooperation with public institutions such as the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan, the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI), the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), and the Japan External Trade Organization (JETRO), as well as international institutions like the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).29Yamaha Motor Co., Ltd. Integrated Report 2020
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