“Water is the source of life. Without clean water we can’t survive.”
— Emergildo Criollo, Cofán Leader
For over fifty years, oil operations in Ecuador’s northern Amazon have poisoned the rivers and streams that Indigenous communities have depended on for generations. What was dumped into the water — nearly 18 billion gallons of toxic waste — didn’t just contaminate a resource. It broke a way of life.
Today, families across the region face a public health crisis: elevated rates of cancer, miscarriage, and birth defects, all traced back to water that should never have been unsafe to drink. For the Cofán, Siona, Secoya, Kichwa, and Waorani peoples, clean water isn’t just a health issue — it’s a matter of survival, culture, and dignity.
ClearWater exists because waiting for a cleanup that never comes is not a strategy. We partner directly with these five Indigenous nations to install rainwater-harvesting and filtration systems, train local technicians to build and maintain them, and put control of the solution in the hands of the communities who need it most.
Our goal is simple: every Indigenous family in the region should have access to life’s most basic need — clean water.