The most basic physical need is surely clean, safe water. Those who persecute Christians know this and sometimes use it against them. Nearly a hundred converts from Islam to Christianity in a village in Uzbekistan were refused access to drinking water. Twenty-two Vietnamese Christian families were forced to leave their village and settle in another area where there was no source of clean water. In Sri Lanka a pastor and his family were attacked by an angry mob and the well where they got their drinking water from was deliberately contaminated, causing children who drank it to fall ill.

A number of Barnabas Aid projects help to provide drinking water for Christian communities in situations of discrimination or persecution. Recent examples include 160 water filter systems in Pakistan at a cost of £5.50 (US$9; NZ$13; AU$10; €6) each, 80 wells in Sri Lanka costing £45 (US$75; NZ$103; AU$81; €50) each, and a grant of £25,690 (US$42,874; NZ$58,960; AU$46,218; €28,421) to provide clean running water and sanitation for five Christian villages in an Arab country.