Team Water: What One Video Shows About the Campaign to Bring Clean Water to 2 Million People

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Overview

The video launches Team Water, a fundraising campaign that aims to raise $40 million to provide clean water to more than 2 million people worldwide. It follows Jimmy (MrBeast) and other creators to project sites in Malawi, Colombia, Nepal, the United States, Ecuador, and Zambia. The narration describes the campaign as the largest creator collaboration in history: more than 3,000 creators with over 3 billion combined followers. The narrator says it "could be one of the largest philanthropy projects in history." At each stop, the video shows what water access looked like before and what was built or delivered. It says the stated goal is water that lasts for decades, not a one-time handout.

9 min read

Malawi: A New Pump for More Than a Thousand People

The campaign starts in a village in Malawi, where the team had just installed a pump that was about to be used for the first time. The first cup of water goes to the village chief. According to the narration, the whole community had previously survived on water collected from puddles, and every drop had to be carried by hand, every day.

To show the contrast, Jimmy holds up a sample of the old water, points to the visible chunks of dirt, and asks whether drinking it would make him sick. The answer is yes, he probably shouldn't. The video says the new well, set up with local leaders, means clean water is "no longer a concern here," and that more than a thousand people living nearby will be supported by this one pump. Creators Orkun and Ben, who have 55 million subscribers combined, help work the pump. The narration presents them as two of the thousands of creators behind Team Water.

When asked whether the well will last forever, Jimmy answers that it can "practically last forever" as long as it is maintained, which he says Team Water will do. The narration calls this well and pump "just the beginning."

Colombia: Filtering Water from a Well Built with Bicycle Parts

In Colombia, the team visits a water source whose pump was designed from spare parts by Christo, who has no formal training and built it from recycled bicycle parts. The well supplies more than 1,000 people. The video points out that the water "doesn't look too bad" at first glance. However, it contains small dirt particles and, more importantly, bacteria that the narration says keep making people there very sick.

Right beside Christo's well, the team built a large filtration system with three stages:

  1. The first stage removes dirt, sand, and large particles.
  2. The second removes bacteria and even smaller particles.
  3. The third removes saline, so fresh water can be pumped out through a pipe.

Christo drinks the first glass from the system and approves of it. The creator Yolo, who has over 33 million subscribers, also tries it and says the water is better than at home. The team also built a storage container that holds the equivalent of 20,000 bottles of water and brought reusable bottles to hand out. A solar farm was installed to power the filtration. Children in the community also received a new playground, and Jimmy jokes that they were more excited about it than about the water.

Here the narration gives the campaign's two main figures. Nearly 1 in 10 people lack access to clean water. On average, every $1 donated provides one person with clean water for a year.

An Existing Project: Reducing the Walk

The team then visits the site of an existing clean water project, where more than 100 children come to school just to get clean water. The narration explains that access alone had not solved the problem. People from more than four communities had to walk long distances to reach this one central source, so the team added three tanks nearby.

To show how much walking the tanks save, Jimmy pushes heavy water jugs over the route, with others urging him on. The video concludes, "as you can tell, it's very hard to carry water." This community also received a playground.

Nepal: A 15,000-Liter Tank Still Under Construction

In a small village in Nepal, locals hike a winding trail to reach a water tap and filter their water with just a piece of cloth. The video shows one of three tanks being built. The tanks will serve more than 300 people, or 71 households. When complete, this tank will hold 15,000 liters and will be paired with a mechanism to clean and disinfect the water. The tank was still unfinished when filmed. Someone on site estimates it will serve the community "easily, for at least 15 to 20 years." Completing it requires more than 2,700 kilos of concrete. One team member says they have worked 18 hours that day and would work 24 if it meant people got clean water a day sooner.

This section also introduces WaterAid as the campaign's lead global partner. According to the video, WaterAid supports the local governments that handle repairs and keep everything working. That is how the campaign supports its claim that it is "not only providing the project, but maintaining it for decades to come."

The United States: Jackson, Mississippi and Rhodell, West Virginia

The video then argues that the problem is not limited to other countries. In 2022, flooding caused the entire water system of Jackson, Mississippi to fail. The video focuses on an assisted living facility that struggled as a result. A person there describes what was lost: water to brush teeth, prepare meals, and bathe.

The solution shown is an atmospheric water generator, which Mark Rober explains to Jimmy. Rober compares it to the beads of water that form on a glass on a hot day. Jimmy guesses the water passes through the glass, and Rober corrects him: the water comes from the air. The machine cools the air until it can no longer hold its moisture, collects that water in a large tank, and purifies it along the way. Rober calls it "basically just squeezing and wringing out air." He says the water is clean enough to use in an operating room. According to the video, the machine produces enough water for the entire facility, and the facility plans to share it with others in the community who struggle to get clean water.

Team Water is also partnering with Dig Deep to give Rhodell, West Virginia an updated water system. The video says the town has had many problems with crumbling infrastructure in previous years.

Ecuador: A Contaminated River and Reverse Osmosis

In Ecuador, creator Ricky Limon and four friends, with over 120 million subscribers combined, work at a river described as beautiful but dangerously contaminated with germs like E. coli and Giardia. For the neighboring village, it is the only water source for adults and children alike. A person there says 34% of children under five suffer from malnutrition and stomach problems.

The team is building reverse osmosis filtration for each of the village's three water storage tanks. The filtered water comes out "completely clear." Every community member also receives a water filtration bag so they can carry clean water wherever they go. The video thanks the Amazon Rainforest Investor Coalition for supporting this work.

Zambia: The Largest Community in the Video

In Zambia, fitness creator Browney visits the largest community featured, where 9,000 people had no access to clean water. Their only option was digging shallow wells. A resident explains that these wells are uncovered, so rainfall floods and contaminates them, and "you'll find yourself in the hospital." The team installed three 10,000-liter tanks feeding new water stations around the community, with the goal that every one of the 9,000 residents has access to clean water. With the stations running, residents can finally fill in the old, unsafe wells, and the video shows one being filled.

The Campaign Behind the Projects

Jimmy says the projects in the video are "just a sample" of what Team Water will do. He places the campaign in a series. Five years earlier, Team Trees raised $20 million to plant 20 million trees. Three years earlier, Team Seas raised $30 million to pull 30 million pounds of trash from the ocean. Team Water's goal is $40 million, which he calls "audacious," to give 2 million people clean water "for decades each." He credits WaterAid as essential to making it possible.

Donations can be made through the video's donate button or at teamwater.org. The site shows every donation, lets donors leave messages, and lists top donors. Jimmy says he and Mark Rober cannot raise $40 million alone, which is why thousands of creators will post videos, TikToks, Shorts, Reels, and Instagram photos about the campaign. He asks viewers to engage with and share that content and to "harass" their favorite creators into supporting Team Water.

The video ends with two contributions. The donation counter starts at $500,000 instead of zero because Shopify, which powers the Team Water merch store, donated that amount. YouTube will match the next $2 million in donations. Jimmy says this means that during the matching period, each dollar gives someone two years of clean drinking water instead of one.