World Water Day: Christian Aid global projects

Pumping it up: This pump, beside the Shashane River in Zimbabwe, brings water into a drinking trough for cattle. Using 'sand abstraction technology', riverside communities build pumps that bring up water from beneath seemingly dry sand riverbeds with the help of the Dabane Trust, so they have water all year round. The annual dry season usually lasts from April to November Photograph: Sian Curry/Christian Aid

No rain, no gain, no forest: Armand Kassogue, director of Christian Aid partner in Mali APH (Action pour la Promotion Humaine), standing with by a desert area. Armand grew up 1km from this place and recalls how during the rainy season: ‘No one would dare to come here - it was a dense forest.' A decline in rainfall has partly caused the forest and a large pond from which animals would drink to disappear Photograph: Sarah Filbey/Christian Aid

Dam brings life and hope: The dam at Kaman, Mali, has helped the village. Rice is grown in the river, and vegetables are cultivated on the banks. They now want a school in the village. 'We realise that we have all this because someone was educated and had the idea of a dam. Now we want our children to be educated too,' said Bize Timbelay Photograph: Mary Grant/Christian Aid

Ex-fisherman grow rice: Souleymane Diallo stands at the edge of his irrigated rice plot in Mali. A fisherman of the Bozo tribe, he found he could no longer support his family due to rainfall levels dropping on the Niger River. Christian Aid funded projects help fishermen in the village of Mendje to irrigate rice plots and teach them effective farming techniques Photograph: Sarah Filbey/Christian Aid

Taking turns on the treadle pump: A Malawi girl works the treadle pump that helps bring water from the dam created by residual water to water the Mukango's crops as well as those of other farmers on neighbouring plots. The pump is shared by a group of farmers growing crops in the same area. Photograph: Sarah Filbey/Christian Aid

Building dams to conserve water: The dam project in Zoungou, Burkina Faso, was built by the local population with the support of Christian Aid's partner ODE 10 years ago and now serves to conserve water and irrigate farming land, providing food self sufficiency in the area Photograph: Abbie Trayler-Smith /Christian Aid

No snow, no ski slopes, no water: This glacial mountain range Chacaltalya, Bolivia, used to be the highest ski resort in the world 10 years ago. In 2015 there will be no snow left at all. In the nearby city of La Paz, and its suburb El Alto, more than 2 million people get about a third of their drinking water from glaciers and snow capped mountains like these Photograph: Hannah Richards/Christian Aid

Hip hop about water: Elena does rapping to raise awareness about the right to water and climate change. Here she is in front of a snow capped mountain range outside of La Paz, Bolivia, where millions of people rely on water from glaciers. Those glaciers have shrunk by more than a third since the 1960s Photograph: Hannah Richards/Christian Aid

Digging hard: With global warming, Peru's ice and snow capped peaks are melting, leaving highland communities in Paras, Ayacucho with fewer water reserves. Valentina and her family have now built a small reservoir and dug slow-release ditches to filter water gradually into their fields with the help of Christian Aid’s partner organization CEDAP (Centre for Agricultural Development). Photograph: Hannah Richards/Christian Aid

Storm preparation: Every year, the storm season brings life-threatening floods and landslides to riverside and coastal villages across Central America. Christian Aid’s local partner organisations are helping people prepare. Faustina (47) and Karen (18), pictured, are members of a newly formed village emergency committee in Honduras, and are responsible for maintaining and managing all the emergency equipment, such as life-jackets, rope, tools and waterproofs Photograph: Sian Curry/Christian Aid

Bangladesh at the tipping point: Two degrees of warming - the tipping point? Millions of poor people in Bangladesh are already at the tipping point with less than 1 degree of warming. The villages along the riverbanks near Mongla in south-west Bangladesh are particularly prone to erosion as storm winds get stronger and as rising sea levels cause river swirls cause homelessness Photograph: Mohammadur Rahman/Christian Aid

River bank swallows up possessions: ‘I swim and don’t know which shore I will land on in the end.’ Anora, Bangladesh, has spent her life watching her assets and property steadily shrink to nothing as the river has swallowed it all up when the water erodes the bank Photograph: Mohammadur Rahma/Christian Aid

Underwater drinks: Children drinking water from underground pipes, salvaged from the wreckage of their home in Beit Lahiya, northern Gaza Strip, after Israel's 22-day offensive on Gaza in January 2009 Photograph: Sarah Malian/Christian Aid