Clean water in crisis: How Planet Water uses digital tools to respond

Bringing clean water to the frontlines: How Planet Water Foundation utilized digital tools to power emergency response

‍

‍Planet Water Foundation is a global nonprofit organization focused on providing clean and safe drinking water to vulnerable communities.

‍

With a strong emphasis on disaster response, the organization operates worldwide, with a focus on Asia-Pacific and Latin America. It delivers clean water during times of crisis and ensures fast, coordinated action.

To expand its impact and enhance its emergency response capabilities, Planet Water has leveraged the monday.com platform to optimize operations, manage disaster events in real time, track key performance indicators (KPIs), and improve collaboration across its global team.

‍

Supporting global emergency responses

From localized emergencies to large-scale regional disasters, the monday.com Foundation Emergency Response Team enhanced Planet Water’s ability to respond quickly, efficiently, and effectively to communities in urgent need of clean drinking water. Each disaster scenario presents unique challenges, but digital tools help overcome these hurdles, enabling the organization to deliver life-saving water solutions to the most affected populations.

Asheville: Responding to Hurricane Helene

During Hurricane Helene in September 2024, severe flooding in Asheville, North Carolina, left approximately 160,000 households without access to clean water. In response, Planet Water quickly mobilized its disaster relief efforts, deploying eight AquaBlock water filtration systems across the city. Each system, capable of producing 700 liters of safe drinking water per hour, ultimately provided clean water to more than 48,000 people during the crisis.

“You don’t truly understand how much you need water until you don’t have it” reflected a resident of Asheville after the devastation caused by Hurricane Helene.

Planet Water used monday.com to coordinate its efforts in real-time, enabling seamless collaboration between teams and partners involved in the response. This advanced digital tool allowed them to manage logistics, track progress, and ensure timely deployment across multiple locations.

‍

Brazil: Responding to severe flooding

Between April 29 and May 4, 2024, the Brazilian state of Rio Grande do Sul experienced the country’s worst flooding in over 80 years. Homes and infrastructure were destroyed, leaving isolated communities dependent on limited water deliveries. In response, Planet Water deployed AquaBlock emergency water systems to some of the hardest-hit and most remote areas.

Using monday.com, the organization coordinated complex logistics, from airlifting systems to São Paulo to transporting them by land to the disaster zone and collaborating with local authorities, the fire department, the Marine Corps, and others. The platform provided a clear view of operations across partners and locations, helping ensure the systems were installed quickly, even in remote areas.

Vietnam: Rapid deployment amid typhoon Yagi

Likewise, in Vietnam, Planet Water utilized digital tools during a devastating typhoon in September 2024, which disrupted communities and contaminated water sources across the country. Super Typhoon Yagi, one of the strongest storms to hit Vietnam in three decades, caused widespread flooding, landslides, and damage to nearly 190,000 homes, impacting close to three million people. The northern mountainous province of Yen Bai was among the hardest hit, facing prolonged disruptions to electricity and access to clean water.

Through its Disaster Response Alliance program, Planet Water quickly responded to the urgent need for safe water by deploying four AquaTower water filtration systems in different communities. monday.com played a central role in enabling this rapid deployment, facilitating real-time coordination with local authorities, managing logistics, and ensuring clear visibility into project status across teams and time zones.

‍

With monday.com as their operational backbone, Planet Water carried out several key tasks during disaster response:

• Monitoring disaster events: monday.com served as a central hub for teams across the globe to track and share updates in real-time, ensuring effective coordination and swift action.‍
• Tracking KPIs: The platform allowed Planet Water to monitor response times, assess performance against goals, and identify areas for improvement in the ongoing response efforts.
• ‍Fundraising and planning: The platform also helped in managing the fundraising efforts, and plan their response and programs accordingly.

Building on future capabilities

These events highlight the urgency and complexity of disaster response, where every hour counts. In these high-pressure situations, having access to accurate, real-time information can make the difference between chaos and coordinated action.

Digital tools enable organizations such as Planet Water to centralize data, streamline logistics, and rapidly deploy life-saving solutions to the most vulnerable communities in their time of greatest need.