Essex & Suffolk Water chief executive, Heidi Mottram has joined the board of trustees at WaterAid.

WaterAid is Essex & Suffolk Water’s international charity partner and works in 34 countries to provide people with basic human rights, access to safe water, sanitation and hygiene education.

Heidi, who has been chief executive for seven years, visited WaterAid projects in the African country of Malawi in 2015 to learn more about how the charity works and the impact it has on peoples’ lives. In her new role, she will work alongside the board of nine trustees, who are responsible for helping the charity make a bigger impact.

She said: “It is an honour to be involved with such a life-changing charity. Having been out to Malawi, where 11.5 million people don’t have access to safe water, I’ve seen first hand the suffering caused by something that we take for granted every day in the East of England.”