A Derbyshire charity whose volunteers are racing to make life-saving water filters for Nepalese people devastated by flash floods have launched an urgent £40,000 appeal.
Wirksworth-based Aquabox launched the appeal to fund its response to the Nepal disaster, which has affected nearly 85,000 people with more than 1,000 believed to have died.
Those caught up in the disaster face the added threat of contaminated water supplies.
Aquabox has prepared a first shipment of 1,260 family water filters and 15 community filters which is already packed and ready to leave Derbyshire, with the potential to provide safe drinking water for more than 20,000 people.
Aquabox expects further filters will be needed as communities in Nepal recover from the floods, but after responding to a succession of emergencies around the world this year, its stocks are running low.
Recent responses to an earthquake in Venezuela, shipments to Zimbabwe and two further consignments to Ukraine have severely depleted its supply of filters, leaving the charity urgently needing funds to buy the parts its volunteers need to make more.
And with further pressure potentially on the horizon, the charity is preparing for what could be a particularly busy few months.
Rob Barlow MBE, of Aquabox, said: “With the 2026 El Niño developing into what could potentially be a record-breaking ‘Super El Niño’, with impacts expected on weather around the world, we are anticipating a busy few months ahead.
“The difficulty is that we never know where the next emergency will be or how quickly we will need to respond, so having enough filters ready to go is absolutely vital.”
A family filter costs just £35 to make and can provide the daily drinking water requirements for an extended family of up to 12 people, whilst a £250 community filter can support as many as 500 people in places like schools and community centres.
With no government funding, Aquabox relies on donations, making public support vital to its ability to respond swiftly to humanitarian emergencies.
The charity has around 160 volunteers, with teams of up to 50 working together to assemble the filters by hand.
Back in 2024 Aquabox opened a new assembly room, doubling production from 3,000 to 6,000 a year.
Rob said: “One of the most crucial things for anyone caught up in a crisis is having access to clean drinking water, and that is where Aquabox can have a massive impact.”
In Nepal, that support was already being mobilised within hours of the disaster.
Thanks to emergency supplies already held in the country with partners on the ground, 41 Aqua-Aid boxes were despatched within 36 hours of the flash floods to assist families in the affected Jajarkot and Bajura districts.
With search and rescue still the immediate priority for the Nepalese authorities, Aquabox is now preparing for the point at which access to safe drinking water becomes an urgent concern in the days and weeks following the floods.
Attention has now turned to getting the first shipment of filters from Derbyshire to Nepal as quickly as possible.
Filling eight pallets, the consignment is ready for dispatch, but getting the filters to the communities that need them is a complex operation. Freight, customs clearance and onward distribution all require close coordination between international partners, whilst reaching some of the worst-affected areas presents further logistical challenges, particularly in the final stages of the journey.
Rob said the involvement of the British Embassy represented a particularly welcome development.
He said: “We have managed to get British Embassy involvement this time, which should help tremendously in speeding things up.”
Whilst not a usual feature of Aquabox’s disaster response, the additional diplomatic support is expected to provide valuable assistance as the shipment makes its way to Nepal, alongside support from partners FireAid, Airlink and the BlinkNow Foundation.
More than £27,500 has already been raised or pledged towards the £40,000 target with donations coming from individuals, Rotary clubs and businesses, including £5,000 from Derbyshire company Cosy.
That leaves £12,500 still to find, with Aquabox calling on people across Derbyshire to make donations, to help ensure its volunteers have the parts they need to keep making filters as the situation in Nepal develops.
Donations to the Nepal Flash Floods Appeal can be made via Aquabox’s JustGiving page: www.justgiving.com/campaign/aquaboxnepal2026.
