Watermarks help protect images from misuse but Getty is aiming to use the watermark for something bigger.
On World Water Day, on Thursday, March 22, Getty launched Watermarks for Water, an image licensing platform that donates 10 percent of all proceeds to help communities in third-world countries obtain clean drinking water.
With the initiative, Getty said it is removing the watermark on the images while removing impurities from the water.
The website also allows users to support the cause by sharing images on social media.
When shared, the image includes both the watermark and a fact on clean drinking water to help raise awareness for the cause.
Along with selling the images inside the collection, a gallery showing of 25 of those images launched in New York City.
Watermarks for Water works toward one of the goals of the United Nations Global Goals campaign.
Getty was one of the founding partners for that initiative when the campaign launched in 2015.
“One of the things that struck us the most when working with Getty Images on this campaign is that more people die from drinking impure water than from war,” Liz Taylor, chief creative officer of FCB Chicago, said in a statement.
“That insight led us to take one of Getty Images’ most recognizable assets, the watermark, and flip the idea on its head — what if, by removing watermarks, we could start a global movement to bring clean water to those around the world who lack it.” The Watermarks for Water images are available for sharing and licensing at watermarksforwater.com.

BRUSSELS, March 22 (KUNA) — The European Union (EU) on Thursday called on all states to fulfil their obligations regarding access to safe drinking water for all without discrimination.
"Access to safe drinking water is a fundamental right but is still a challenge in many parts of the world," EU High Representative Federica Mogherini said in a Declaration to mark World Water Day.
She stressed the importance of the mandate of the UN Special Rapporteur on the human rights to safe drinking water and sanitation, and called on all states to collaborate with the current rapporteur.
The EU statement noted that climate change is taking a toll on the drier areas of the planet.
Already, one of Africa’s largest lakes, Lake Chad, has decreased by 90 per cent as a result of climate change.
"Water is not only a driver of social and economic development but also of peace and security.
The availability of water is one of the key factors that can lead to conflicts and mass displacements," warned the EU foreign policy chief.
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Severely restricted access to safe/clean drinking water has been one of the biggest issues having plagued many earthquake affected rural communities in the aftermath of the earthquake.
In response to this environmental issue, the Emergency Disaster Restoration Team (EDRT) is now exploring the use of water purifiers to minimise the long term cost and environmental impact of relief operations.
EDRT controller, Dr William Hamblin said on Tuesday that preliminary water testing in the Kikori area is already being carried out by the United Nations Disaster Assessment Coordination,alongside the PNG National Department of Health and the National Fisheries Authority.
He added that testing will also push further into other affected areas, before purification units will be purchased.
“We’ve been supplying it as bottled water which cannot be sustained in the longer term, because it would be an environmental disaster if we have five billion plastic bottles out there.
Water is quite heavy and therefore expensive to transport,” said Dr Hamblin.
“We’re looking at producing potable water at some of these locations.
We’ve got the quotes for those and we’re waiting for a preliminary report from the UN water experts who have been going around with the Department of Health doing test.
So if there are any heavy metals found, the water purifiers will take those out,” he said.
“A lot of areas have got thatched roofs so you can’t use that to collect water so you’ve got to have a galvanised roof or a tarp or something to hold the water,” he said.

This was revealed by the Chief of Water Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH), UNICEF Nigeria, Zaid Jurji, in collaboration with‎ the recent Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey (MICS), conducted by the National Bureau of Statistics in 2016/17, which also indicated that about 40 per cent of households do not have access to clean water sources.
‎He said: "For Nigeria to achieve the global goal of providing access to safe water for every citizen by 2030, it needs to make water, together with sanitation and hygiene, a national priority.
This goal is closely linked with three key results for the country-good health, environment sustainability and economic prosperity.
‎"Access to safe drinking water remains a challenge to majority of Nigerians, especially those living in the rural areas.
"In the rural areas, 19 million people walk long distances to collect unsafe water from lakes, streams and rivers.
"Children without access to safe water are more likely to die in infancy and throughout childhood from water-borne diseases.
Diarrhea remains the leading cause of death among children under five years of age in Nigeria.
"Waterborne diseases also contribute to stunting.
A stunted child is shorter than he or she could have been, and will never be able to reach his or her full cognitive potential.
UNICEF, in collaboration with the federal, state and local governments, has provided safe water during the past five years to over eight million Nigerians living in rural areas.

Water and sanitation is a basic human right for all.
Yet, water scarcity affects more than 40 per cent of the global population (UN Report on Clean Water and Sanitation).
Unfortunately, in countries like South Sudan, although completely preventable, water and sanitation-related diseases are among the top killers of children under five.
Six-year old, Mary, reaches for the water pump handle well above her head to fill her large jerry can with water.
In one effortless motion, she hoists the jerry can onto her head balancing it on her head without her hands.
With the help of the South Sudan Red Cross, Mary and more than 500 community members in her village in Yambio now have access to clean, drinking water.
“The stream was making us sick,” says Victoria Richard, another villager living close by.
“In rainy season, the water would get even more dirty and when it was dry, there would be no water at all.” “Now that we have this borehole, we’re closer to clean water.” The responsibility of fetching water is traditionally the role of women and children in rural South Sudan who often have to venture far distances by foot at least three times a day.
“Red Cross is here through the power of our volunteer network to help bring water closer to the communities to ensure that women and their families are healthier and safe.” With the support of the Government of Japan, the South Sudan Red Cross is targeting 3.1 million people, including 560,000 children under five, to help prevent common illnesses in rural communities, including malaria, pneumonia and diarrhoea.
Photos and content written by: Corrie Butler

Those dirty two or three gallons would be all they had for drinking, cooking, cleaning and bathing that day.
For these Americans, it is always Day Zero.
Water poverty affects nearly 1.6 million people in the United States, but it remains a stubbornly invisible crisis.
Before widespread solutions can be rolled out, however, we need to know who exactly is getting by without the taps and the toilets the rest of us take for granted.
Today, African Americans are twice as likely as whites to live without modern plumbing.
On the Navajo Nation, where I work, 40% of the nearly 170,000 residents still haul water home in bottles or buckets, often at great expense.
The most comprehensive data we have on U.S. water poverty comes from the Census Bureau, but it is maddeningly unspecific and often inaccurate.
The Census Bureau’s American Community Survey tells us there are about 1.6 million Americans living in housing that lacks "complete plumbing facilities."
Census data doesn’t explain why these communities still don’t have access to water and sanitation when nearly every other American does.
Most important, census data doesn’t explain why these communities still don’t have access to water and sanitation when nearly every other American does.

MAKASSAR: Indonesian villager Mama Hasria swims upstream with about 200 empty jerry cans tied to her back, a daily trip she and other local women make to get clean water for their community on Sulawesi island.
As a scorching sun beats down, Hasria makes the four kilometre, hour-long trip along the murky Mandar river to clean water wells built along the riverbank.
There, the 46-year-old fills up her cans with clean water made drinkable by the surrounding soil which acts as a natural filter and purifier.
The work of Hasria and her fellow water collectors, who get paid about US$7 for the whole load, is vital for some 5,800 families in Tinambung district.
Thursday is World Water Day, a UN initiative which this year focuses on "nature-based" solutions for sourcing potable water globally.
Advertisement It is a challenge in Tinambung where residents have complained for years about limited access to clean water in the remote fishing village.
"Water in the village can only be used for bathing and doing laundry."
Other communities struggle with similar challenges in Indonesia, which has myriad environmental problems and the dubious distinction of hosting the filthy Citarum river, which empties into the sea near Jakarta.
A decade ago, the World Bank declared it the most-polluted river in the world.
Faced with a health emergency after decades of failed clean-up efforts, the government is stepping in with the seemingly impossible goal of making the Citarum’s water drinkable by 2025.

The theme of this year’s World Water Day – marked annually on 22 March – is "Nature for Water", which, as the website of the United Nations Environment Programme informs us, "explores nature-based solutions (NBS) to the water challenges we face in the 21st century."
The challenges are clearly dire; as the UN notes, 2.1 billion people currently "lack access to safely managed drinking water services," while an estimated 1.8 billion "use an unimproved source of drinking water with no protection against contamination from human faeces."
But while the whole "NBS" campaign will no doubt generate handsome revenues for a UN system that specialises in self-enrichment, no solution to water or related challenges is possible within a global capitalist system that is itself destroying nature.
Oceans of pollution Let’s start with the 2.1 billion people reportedly lacking access to "safely managed drinking water services".
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25:00 Even before this revelation, a report by the World Economic Forum had indicated that, if we continue with business as usual, there will be more plastic than fish in the oceans by 2050.
Larger contexts In her 2013 book A Human Rights Manifesto, Julie Wark discusses the monetisation (read: neoliberal theft) of resources and rights, highlighting the role of the bottled beverage industry in environmental destruction -none of this damage will be reversed by planting trees or restoring wetlands.
But the only nature-based solution to capitalism is to get rid of it.

Clean Water and Sanitation are key to everyday life and the development of people irrespective of their location.
In Ghana, just 27% of the population have access to safely managed water.
According to water.org, about 18 million of the population still lack safely managed sanitation.
In order to bridge the gap, a collective effort is needed to help raise the standard of access to clean water and sanitation.
The project has provided 41 water points and 110 latrines in various communities.
Mr Sampson Awuah, Assemblyman of Katapei, a farming community in the Ashanti Region sharing how the project has benefited his people said, “the stream we depended on was not clean but we had no other option than to rely on it as our source of drinking water.
The saddest part of the situation was that the stream dries up every harmattan season and this means the whole community is hit by serious shortage of Water.
Mr. Awuah urged other organizations to support deprived communities.
“Water is a human right and every individual is entitled to it.
In as much as providing access to clean water is critical, conservation is equally important.

Safe and readily available water is important for public health, whether it is used for drinking, domestic use, food production or recreational purposes.
Poor access to clean water also undermines their development, predominantly girls who frequently miss out on education as they cover long distances to fetch clean water.
Regional issues: Cholera outbreaks caused by contaminated drinking water occur in many areas of Burundi.
A lack of access to clean water in the area means many of the children are affected by diarrheal and skin diseases.
With cholera endemic in many parts of Burundi, particularly those bordering Lake Tanganyika, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Tanzania, UNICEF is constantly working to change the scenario.
How UNICEF is helping: Hydraulic engineers working with UNICEF are helping to build systems that bring safe water to families and schools.
By finding water sources, studying flows, and building water points, UNICEF and its partners are responding to the needs of local residents.
UNICEF and its partners are working to improve access to safe water for communities, such as in Mukerezi-Mpakaniro hill, where a rainwater tank was built.
A recently inaugurated project in Muhuta hill is bringing clean water to students like Adrien, 6.
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