4.22.2008 - 02:40pm ET

Former P&G Chief Executive Officer, John Pepper, provides the billionth liter of water to Taiwo Faruna in Nigeria in celebration of a new milestone for the Children's Safe Drinking Water Program. (PRNewsFoto/The Procter & Gamble Company)

(CSRwire) IBADAN, Nigeria, April 22 /PRNewswire/ -- The Children's Safe Drinking Water Program celebrated the creation of its one billionth liter of clean drinking water today at a rural clinic near Ibadan, Nigeria. Using a packet of water clarification and disinfectant developed by Procter & Gamble (NYSE: PG), former P&G Chief Executive Officer, President and Chairman, John Pepper, helped transform cloudy contaminated water into clear, clean drinking water in a matter of minutes before a crowd of local residents and Nigerian officials.

(Photo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20080422/CLTU079 )

"This milestone event marks both a humanitarian triumph and a technological achievement," said Pepper. "But what really matters is that we are helping to save lives. The Children's Safe Drinking Water Program has provided 1 billion liters of clean drinking water through a variety of strong partnerships and emergency relief efforts in Africa and around the world. P&G is committed to work with our partners to provide billions more liters of clean drinking water and help address the crisis of children dying needlessly from cholera, typhoid fever, and dysentery."

Mr. Pepper was joined by the First lady of Oyo State, Nigeria, Mrs. Kemi Alao Akala, who strongly endorsed the efforts to help more than 66 million Nigerians in need of safe drinking water. Officials from Population Services International and their local affiliate the Society for Family Health as well as local government officials and NGOs also were in attendance. A local woman who accesses her drinking water from a heavily contaminated well, Mrs. Taiwo Faruna, accepted a year's supply of PUR packets for her family including her twelve month old son, Oluwasegun Faruna, who accompanied her to the ceremony.

The Children's Safe Drinking Water Program is a not-for-profit program founded by P&G as part of its global cause - Live, Learn and Thrive(TM) - aimed at improving life for children in need. This Live, Learn and Thrive program provides clean drinking water in the developing world. P&G works with more than 30 partners and has committed to provide 2 billion liters of clean drinking water using the PUR water purification packets within the next five years.

P&G's lifesaving technology uses small packets or sachets to disinfect water. Each sachet works like a mini-water treatment plant removing dirt, cysts and pollutants while killing bacteria and viruses in contaminated water in less than 30 minutes, ten liters at a time.

"While we're pausing to celebrate this milestone, we know that it's a drop in the ocean compared to the need. We can't rest while more children are dying from waterborne illness than die from HIV/AIDS and malaria," said Greg Allgood, Ph.D., Director, Children's Safe Drinking Water Program at P&G.

The World Health Organization estimates that more than one billion people around the world do not have access to clean, safe water. Every day, more than 4,000 children die from diseases caused by drinking unsafe water. These deaths are preventable, and there are proven, scalable, and cost-effective solutions such as the PUR packets that can dramatically improve water quality and potentially save a huge number of lives.

P&G has recently created a way for people to contribute directly to the program via GIVEPURWATER.org. One-hundred percent of the proceeds will go to P&G partners providing clean drinking water in the developing world.

P&G started commercial operations in sub-Saharan Africa 15 years ago and does more than $500 million in sales of products including Always, Vicks, and Pampers. By the end of the decade, P&G expects sub-Saharan Africa sales to surpass $1 billion and serve more than 500 million people.

About the Children's Safe Drinking Water Program

P&G works with a diverse group of partners to provide families in developing countries with clean drinking water. Since it was established in 2003, the CSDW Program has provided more than one billion liters of clean drinking water to people in more than 40 countries. For more information about the Children's Safe Drinking Water Program visit www.givepurwater.org.

About PUR(TM)Water Purification Packet

PUR(TM) water purification product is a powdered water clarification and disinfectant that comes in small, easy-to-use packets. Using some of the same ingredients as municipal water systems, PUR(TM) water purification packet removes pollutants and cysts and kills bacteria and viruses in contaminated water. In addition to CSDW Programs in developing countries, PUR(TM) water purification packets have been provided to some of the most critical global emergency relief situations, including the tsunami in Asia, hurricanes in the Caribbean, and floods in the Philippines and Bangladesh. For more information about PUR(TM) water purification technology and to see how it works, visit www.csdw.org.

About Procter & Gamble

Three billion times a day, P&G brands touch the lives of people around the world. The company has one of the strongest portfolios of trusted, quality, leadership brands, including Pampers(R), Tide(R), Ariel(R), Always(R), Whisper(R), Pantene(R), Mach3(R), Bounty(R), Dawn(R), Pringles(R), Folgers(R), Charmin(R), Downy(R), Lenor(R), Iams(R), Crest(R), Oral-B(R), Actonel(R), Duracell(R), Olay(R), Head & Shoulders(R), Wella(R), Gillette(R), and Braun(R). The P&G community consists of over 138,000 employees working in over 80 countries worldwide. In these countries and beyond, P&G is committed to improving lives for children in need, ages 0-13, through its global corporate cause, Live, Learn and Thrive. Please visit www.pg.com for the latest news and in-depth information about P&G, its brands, and Live, Learn and Thrive.

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