Procter and Gamble’s safe drinking water scheme reaches milestone

Procter and Gamble has supplied its four billionth litre of clean drinking water through its Children's Safe Drinking Water (CSDW) programme.

The milestone was reached after the health and personal care company provided assistance to a family in Thailand affected by the recent flooding, the nation's worst in half a century.

Since launching CSDW in 2004, the organisation has been helping people in poor and developing nations to access fresh water through the offering of more than 400 million water purification packets.

The Thailand floods have seen Procter and Gamble providing more than 25 million litres of clean drinking water to around 50,000 families, including many of the company's own employees who were affected.

Marc Pritchard, global brand building officer for the business, said: "This is an incredible milestone for our programme and something we've worked towards for over seven years."

Last month, the company announced a major new partnership with fellow healthcare company Teva that will see the two firms combine forces in the field of consumer health products.