Xylem and Manchester City F.C. Partner to Deliver Clean Water Towers, Training and Education to Communities in Bangalore, India

RYE BROOK, N.Y., March 22, 2019 /3BL Media/ – Xylem (NYSE:XYL), a leading global water technology company, has partnered with current Premier League Champions Manchester City F.C. to deliver clean water towers, WASH education, and sports and leadership training to communities in Bangalore, India – which will benefit over 5,000 children this year. The Cityzens Giving project ‘Water Goals,’ sponsored by Xylem, earned the top ranking among six projects in Manchester City’s annual ‘Cityzens Giving’ global community initiative, receiving more than 450,000 votes from football fans around the world.

Between February 13-16, Xylem, together with Manchester City F.C. and Xylem’s non-governmental organization (NGO) partner, Planet Water Foundation, built clean water filtration towers at two government primary schools in Bangalore, which will provide long-term, sustainable access to clean water for the surrounding community. Throughout the week, the organizations, along with local Cityzens Giving NGO partner Magic Bus, teamed up to deliver training to Young Leaders, with a focus on how education on water hygiene and sanitation can be taught through football. The week culminated in a community football festival for over 100 children from the local community.

Xylem is committed to creating social and economic value through innovative approaches and technologies that have a lasting impact on communities. The Water Goals project in Bangalore is part of Xylem’s ongoing social impact initiative, conducted by the company’s corporate citizenship program Watermark, alongside Xylem’s partner Planet Water Foundation, which is responsible for water tower construction.

Patrick Decker, Xylem President and Chief Executive Officer, said: “We’re honored to support these important social impact initiatives, which will provide education and training and improve access to safe, clean water, benefitting over 5,000 children in Bangalore communities. Our partnership with Manchester City is about inspiring people of all ages to focus on water challenges in their communities. It’s also about mobilizing a global movement to help us embrace the opportunity of a lifetime - to solve water. We look forward to building on this momentum in the coming months.”

Ferran Soriano, Chief Executive of City Football Group, said: “We at City Football Group are very proud of Cityzens Giving. Once again, we are investing in the future through community football projects around the world and the inspirational Young Leaders who are using the power of football in the most positive ways imaginable. These young people have incredible stories and have committed themselves to using the world’s most loved, watched and played sport to impact their own communities and tackle social issues which need our support. We are proud to help them drive sustained change in their communities using our shared love for football.”

Despite Bangalore being one of the world’s fast-growing cities with its population increasing by 8 percent year-on-year, many of its 12.3 million residents do not have access to clean drinking water and are therefore at risk of contracting water-borne diseases. This not only affects their health but can also impact their education. Combining Xylem’s expertise in water technology with football and education sessions on water and sanitation, the Cityzens Giving project will increase access to safe water and reduce the risk of illness faced by thousands of children across Bangalore.

The Cityzens Giving project caps a record year for Xylem Watermark, which engaged ~45% of Xylem’s global employee base who collectively logged more than 53,000 volunteer hours giving back to local communities. Watermark also exceeded its three-year goal to log 100,000 employee volunteer hours.

About Xylem

Xylem (XYL) is a leading global water technology company committed to developing innovative technology solutions to the world’s water challenges. The Company’s products and services move, treat, analyze, monitor and return water to the environment in public utility, industrial, residential and commercial building services settings. Xylem also provides a leading portfolio of smart metering, network technologies and advanced infrastructure analytics solutions for water, electric and gas utilities. The Company’s approximately 17,000 employees bring broad applications expertise with a strong focus on identifying comprehensive, sustainable solutions. Headquartered in Rye Brook, New York, with 2018 revenue of $5.2 billion, Xylem does business in more than 150 countries through a number of market-leading product brands.

The name Xylem is derived from classical Greek and is the tissue that transports water in plants, highlighting the engineering efficiency of our water-centric business by linking it with the best water transportation of all – that which occurs in nature. For more information, please visit us at www.xylem.com.

About Xylem Watermark

Xylem Watermark, the company’s corporate citizenship program, was initiated in 2008, with a focus on protecting and providing safe water resources for communities around the world and also educating people on water related issues. In 2016, Watermark launched a three-year program focusing on employee volunteerism globally to drive rapid growth in employee engagement in providing social value within our communities.

About Manchester City Football Club

Manchester City FC is an English Premier League club initially founded in 1880 as St Mark’s West Gorton. It officially became Manchester City FC in 1894 and has since then gone onto win the European Cup Winners’ Cup, five League Championship titles, including three Premier League titles (2012, 2014, 2018), and five FA Cups. Manchester City FC is one of eight teams comprising the City Football Group and counts New York City FC and Melbourne City FC among its sister clubs.

Under manager Pep Guardiola, one of the most highly decorated managers in world football, the Club plays its domestic and UEFA Champions League home fixtures at the Etihad Stadium, a spectacular 55,000 seat arena that City have called home since 2003. Today, the Stadium sits on the wider Etihad Campus, which also encompasses the City Football Academy, a state-of-the-art performance training and youth development facility located in the heart of East Manchester. Featuring a 7,000 capacity Academy Stadium, the City Football Academy is also where Manchester City Women’s Football Club and the Elite Development Squad train on a daily basis and play their competitive home games.

For more information, please visit www.mancity.com.  

About Cityzens Giving

Since the launch of Cityzens Giving more than five years ago, over 25,000 youngsters in 20 cities around the world have benefited from projects delivered by Young Leaders. Each year, fans are given the opportunity to choose how funds, donated by City Football Group and its partners, are split between six different projects.

In addition to funding, every season Young Leaders are invited to Manchester City’s Young Leaders Summit held at City Football Academy to share learning about how they are using the power of football to address social issues in their local communities.

This year’s campaign once again distributed £400,000 donated by City Football Group and its partners to six urban football projects run by young people, for young people. Bangalore’s Safe Water project, supported by the Club’s water technology partner Xylem, gained the most votes and will receive £92,000 of grant funding.

In October 2016, Cityzens Giving won Corporate Citizenship Campaign of the Year at the annual Beyond Sport Awards, designed to support and reward the best projects across the globe that are using sport for positive social change.

For more information, please visit www.mancity.com/cityzensgiving.