Improving Lives Every Day: Project SafeWater-Colon, Honduras

One billion people around the world, most of them poor, lack access to safe water. According to the World Health Organization, 25,000 people die every day from preventable water-borne diseases. In Colon, Honduras, it is estimated that 34 percent of the region's 250,000 people lack access to safe water and 43 percent lack access to sanitation facilities, exceeding the global average. Many people are forced to drink water so muddied with contaminants its dubbed "chocolate water."

This shocking reality is one reason that the Pentair Foundation is supporting research for Project SafeWater - Colon. In addition to the Education and Community focused programs outlined above, the Pentair Foundation seeks to create solutions to the world's water crisis, consistent with our environmental and business objectives. As a first step in this effort, the Pentair Foundation partnered with Water Missions International (WMI) and the United States Centers for Disease Control (CDC) in 2007 to demonstrate that the world's water crisis can be addressed in a cost-effective, sustainable manner.

The approach of Project SafeWater - Colon mirrors our own approach to solutions: innovative engineering practices combined with a knowledgeable and respectful engagement of the customer (in this case, the people in each community). This is a multi-phased, multi-year approach, creating quick-to-install, cost-effective, sustainable solutions to the water crisis - solutions that work.

Already, less than one year after launch, ten communities have new water treatment systems installed producing clean water for residents. Community leaders have been educated about the importance of safe, clean water and the connection between that and hygiene practices. Community education programs are being launched in some parts of the region to help ensure that families understand the importance of consistent hygiene practices for children, and latrines are being built to support these practices.

Project SafeWater - Colon is a marquis program of the Pentair Foundation. We will provide regular updates as milestones in the project plan are reached; you can read them at www.pentair.com.

Addressing Disasters, Providing Relief

As noted earlier, Pentair is uniquely poised to help address disasters when they strike since, the availability of safe, clean water is often the key to survival in the aftermath of natural disasters. While Pentair products help meet vital needs in disaster recovery efforts, employee volunteerism and Pentair's philanthropic program also plays a vital role.

For example,

• Pentair employees around the world showed their support for earthquake victims in China and cyclone victims in Myanmar in 2008 by making donations to the Red Cross's relief efforts in those countries. Through a matching program, the Pentair Foundation donated $25,000 to relief efforts and matched all employee donations dollar-for-dollar up to $1,000.
• The Pentair Foundation community councils in Wisconsin joined efforts in 2008 to support the flood victims in their home state, contributing a total of $160,000 to Southeast Wisconsin's Red Cross chapter on behalf of Pentair's 1,500 Wisconsin-based employees.
• In the aftermath of the Asia tsunami in 2005, not only were Pentair products hard at work: so were many of our employees. In India, Pentair Water employees shipped manual water purification systems to the Andaman Islands for use by the Indian Navy while water filters - both sand and ultraviolet - used for basic water treatment were installed in Naggapatnam and Pondicherri, some of the worst affected areas in the Tamil Nadu state. Through a partnership with a Pentair Water dealer, volunteer employees helped install and start the systems.

Employee Partnership with our Communities

Pentair's support ripples beyond the Pentair Foundation throughout our communities. For example, the generosity of Pentair employees in Straubenhardt, Germany enables underprivileged and special needs children to receive needed tutoring through the program Haus der Familie. Most of the students receive tutoring for three to eight hours a week, focused on addressing the special needs of the students. At Pentair's Anoka, Minnesota facility, an annual food drive generates supplies for area food shelves, with the largest contribution totaling 30,000 pounds.

Our employees, who demonstrate the core values of Pentair through involvement and volunteerism in their communities, are best situated to know the needs of their community; that's why Pentair regularly supports employee-driven initiatives through financial, product and staff support. The examples above are indicative of the many varied ways in which Pentair supports our communities; our long history of doing so cannot possibly be documented in this report. Instead, we seek to provide you a sampling of the varied ways in which our culture and our business empowers every Pentair employee to be an active part of our global community.