How Buying Mangoes and Produce Brings Clean Water to Those in Need - Produce Market Guide

World Water Day 2026 is nearing on March 22. UN-Water, the coordinating body of the United Nations’ water and sanitation efforts, sets an official theme and campaign each year. In 2026, the theme is “Water and Gender,” and the accompanying campaign is, “Where water flows, equality grows.”

These messages accurately frame water and sanitation as a human rights issue that affects health, education, dignity and opportunity. For Continental Fresh, a grower, shipper and importer of fresh fruits and vegetables from Latin America, the message is deeply personal.

While lack of clean water and sanitation affects entire communities, the UN notes that women and girls can carry a significant burden, resulting in lost time and reduced opportunity, along with strain to health and safety.

Simple Actions Can Bring Lasting Solutions

Part of the answer is as simple as buying produce; just look for the blue Water For All label on mangoes, cucumbers or butternut squash.

Continental Fresh says simple actions can create major changes when they’re taken together with others, and it doesn’t get any simpler than buying the fruits and vegetables you use every day.

Proceeds from every Water For All produce sale fund gravity-driven aqueducts, filtration systems, ventilated-improved pit latrines and other clean water and sanitation initiatives. These projects, carried out with Continental Fresh’s partner, Blue Missions, bring reliable water access and sanitation to communities in need. These projects are a catalyst for life-changing improvements, including better community health, increased school attendance and more economic opportunity.

So far, Water For All sales and fundraising have helped bring clean water access to almost 37,000 people, along with improved sanitation access to over 12,400, according to the company. The purpose-driven produce brand earned national recognition in 2025, receiving first place in the Brand Citizenship category at the National Agri-Marketing Association’s Best of NAMA Awards.

“Water is a foundation of community health and opportunity,” says Albert Perez, CEO of Continental Fresh and founder of Water For All. “World Water Day reminds us that access to safe water changes everything. It helps children stay in school, supports healthier families and opens the door to greater opportunity.”

An urgent need for clean water work remains. According to the latest World Health Organization and UNICEF reporting, 1 in 4 people around the globe lack access to safe drinking water. That’s 2.1 billion people.

“This World Water Day, we invite retailers, partners and shoppers to choose produce that stands for more,” Perez says. “When you choose Water For All produce, you are not only choosing premium fruit and vegetables, but you are also making clean water possible in communities that deserve to thrive.”

To learn more about Continental Fresh’s Water For All program, visit continentalfresh.com/purpose. To learn more about World Water Day 2026, visit unwater.org.