RESEARCHERS hope up to five million of the world’s poorest and most vulnerable people will benefit from a new £15m project led by Oxford University.

Yesterday international development minister Baroness Northover announced the funding for a seven-year investigation into water security – access to clean water – in areas like India and Kenya.

The £15m was awarded for the project by the Government’s Department for International Development.

Baroness Northover said: “Access to water is a defining challenge for the 21st century.

“Research into how water resources can be better managed will help millions of the world’s poorest and most vulnerable people.

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“Oxford University’s expertise will ensure we can generate new ways to give up to five million more people secure water resources in some of the world’s poorest countries.”

The project, called Improving Water Security for Poor People (IWSP), plans to bring clean, safe and accessible drinking water to Third World countries.

Researchers will work alongside engineers, health professionals, geographers and political scientists to find ways of bringing clean water to areas ravaged by flooding, contamination or drought.

This work will see the university team up with regional organisations and international children’s charity UNICEF.

Co-director of the project Dr Katherine Charles said: “We’re very excited to have this funding as it’s been the culmination of years of planning.”

One of the areas that the research will be targeting is Bangladesh.

Due to flooding and water contamination from poor sewage systems, charities began to dig wells for the people of Bangladesh to drink the “uncontaminated”

ground water – water beneath the surface.

But in the 1990s it was revealed that about 22 million people across the country were drinking water contaminated with arsenic.

The arsenic, which naturally occurs in riverbeds in the region, can cause skin lesions in the short term and long-term exposure can even cause internal cancers.

Dr Charles added: “What we’re doing is closely working with UNICEF and working very closely with governments to find out what needs need to be met in the country and trying to find a solution.

“Over the life of this project [we’re hoping to help] up to five million people but eventually we want to reach hundreds of millions of people.”

Chief of water, sanitation, and hygiene at UNICEF Sanjay Wikesekera, said: “Water security will be one of the major challenges in making sure that the poorest and most vulnerable children gain access to drinking water and sanitation.

“We are excited to be partnering with the University of Oxford to help countries access the best possible evidence for making decisions that will improve the lives of millions of people.”