Pope Leo XIV's September prayer intention calls the faithful to safeguard water "with gratitude, justice, and responsibility." One Catholic nonprofit, Vera Aqua Vera Vita, has spent nearly a decade answering that call directly — building clean water systems in rural Peru and, just as importantly, teaching communities to sustain them for generations to come.

To see the full impact of what sustainable, clean water can do for a community, VAVV explores data from Monte Castillo. Before our clean water project, this community of 7,000+ people was forced to use and drink water from highly contanimated brown water that strongly resembled chocolate milk in color. Now, they have reilable aaccess to abundant, clean water. Read this article to see the real impact clean water has on a community!