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Program: Water: The Wells: Made to Last

One Million Wells does Wells Different.

Patented drill.

Local materials.

Skills that don’t expire.

OMW well drilling work in Africa
the drill at work
A well being drilled by Bibhuti's team in India
Bibhuti’s #695
$3,500 to fund
1 complete well
300+ people served
Forever no expiration
Fund a Well → How we’re different
Program: Water: The Wells: Where We Drill

13 countries. 3 continents.

Tap a pin or country chip below. See where a well is already changing lives — and where we’re drilling right now.

USA Mexico Guatemala Honduras Brazil Peru DR Congo LIVE Uganda Kenya Ethiopia Malawi Zimbabwe LIVE India
Equirectangular projection · Land data: Natural Earth

Tap a pin or country chip.
See what’s happening on the ground.

Every dot is a community that crossed the starting line.

1,100+
Wells Drilled
13
Countries
92%
To Programs
$3,500
= One Well

Program:Water:The Wells:The Difference

One Million Wells created a water system that educates, walks with, and promotes sustainability.

Three pillars. One model. Built from the ground up to keep working long after we're gone.

Pillar One

We Educate.

Six locals trained per well — not as helpers, as drillers. Real skills. Skills that don't expire when we leave.

  • 6 locals trained, hands-on
  • Crews train the next crew
  • Skills compound over generations

Pillar Two

We Walk With.

We don't fly in, drill, fly out. We work alongside local crews from breaking ground to the first cup of water.

  • Side-by-side, every drill
  • No contract, no dependency
  • Communities lead, we follow

Pillar Three

We Sustain.

Drills built from local materials. Wells owned by the community. When something breaks, they fix it — because they built it.

  • Locally-built drill rigs
  • Community-owned forever
  • Wells last 20+ years

Program:Water:The Wells:The Process

Five steps. Infinite wells.

Not complicated. Just works.

1
The team shows up.
2
They train the local team.
3
They locate water and drill together.
4
They train the next team.
5
Water flows.

Two ways in.

Pick the path that's yours.

Some give. Some go. Both build the well.

Program:Water:The Wells:Your Impact

Every dollar has a job.

Pick yours.

  • $20Sand for one well
  • $150A hand pump — 20 years of water
  • $2,000Train a crew of 6 drillers
  • $3,500One complete well + 300 people, forever
Fund a Well →

Program:The Movement:#SinkChallenge

30 seconds. One sink. Everything changes.

No money required.

  • 1Turn on your sink
  • 2Post how it makes you feel
  • 3Tag #SinkChallenge · @onemillionwells
  • 4Watch it ripple
Take the Challenge →

Program:Water:The Wells:The Ripples

Water is the starting line. Here's what crosses it.

One well doesn't just give water. It gives back time, school days, harvests, health — and a crew of people who can do it again without us.

What water unlocks

Long-term community impact

200M
Hours/day women & girls spend collecting water globally
UNICEF
12%
Increase in girls' school attendance with nearby water
UN Water
$4
Economic return per $1 invested in water access
WHO
20+
Years a properly maintained OMW well delivers water
OMW Field Data

Built by the people who keep it

Local involvement, every step

6
Local drillers trained per well, hands-on
OMW Standard
100%
Drill rigs built on-site from local materials
R.C.'s Design
70%+
Wells still functioning at 10 years with community ownership
RWSN Sector Data
6,000+
Drillers trained across 13 countries since 2018
OMW Cumulative
Turn Up The Volume

Program:Water:The Wells:The Sound

When the well is done, the singing starts.

This is what crossing the starting line sounds like. A community that just got 20 years of walking time back. Kids who can stay in school. Gardens that can grow. Hit Listen. Turn it up.

← Tap Listen on the video
Program: Water: The Wells: India

India: 794 wells. And counting.

What started as a literal dream R.C. Crawford had one night has become something so impactful. R.C. must have known it would — naming the nonprofit One Million Wells.

Driven by the belief that real change should last for generations, R.C. developed what would become the patented Crawford Drill — an innovation designed not simply to bring water, but to place the power of change into the hands of communities themselves.

What began with a trip to India alongside his friend Jim Forbis became the start of a movement built differently from the start. One Million Wells is not built to create a fix for a moment in time, but to create sustainable systems for the future.

From clean water initiatives to The Community Collective and The Movement, the vision continued to grow: Water as the starting line. Food security and support systems that sustain communities. A global movement that invites others to step in and help build what lasts.

In the Pipili region of Odisha, India, that vision took root through Bibhuti and his team. What was once an invention carried across the world is now operated locally, independently, and at scale. Today, they run the patented Crawford Drill on their own schedule, in their own communities, creating lasting access to clean water one well at a time.

Nearly 700 wells later, it remains one of OMW’s most active and powerful examples of generational impact in motion.

794
Wells in India
695
By Bibhuti’s team
238K+
People served

Bibhuti leads.

One trained leader. Hundreds of wells. Every one built to outlast the funding.

Pipili scales.

One region. One team that doesn’t leave. Wells multiplying year after year.

Wells compound.

695 by Bibhuti’s team. 99 before that. The math keeps moving in our favor.

Bibhuti’s team drilling a well in India
Bibhuti’s team drilling
An OMW well in Africa
a well in Africa
Another OMW well in Africa
another in Africa
Community gathered for a well dedication
the dedication
R.C. Crawford at a well
R.C. Crawford

Well 695 today. Well 696 next.

Fund the Next Well → Meet the Team

Program:Water:The Wells:Come Drill

Some donate dollars. Some go drill.

Not everyone can. But if you can? Put your hands on the drill.

We got it.

Someone from the team will be in touch. Welcome to the crew.

One well.
300+ people.
$3,500.

That's the whole pitch. You in?

Fund a Well →