Highlight on Charity: Water

by Corbyn Small

I have always had a love for water, whether it be in the backyard pools of Arizona, beaches of California, or lakes near my old home. Large bodies of water have never been far and have always been there for me to enjoy. While these forms of water are nice, this information has little to do with my blog today. The water I want to talk about is more along the lines of drinking water, which none of the above listed bodies of water supply a source of. But I do find it relevant to my own thought process and how I have taken it for granted.

I had never been too picky about the source of my drinking water until I went to school and lived in a dorm where it was a good idea to get water from someplace other than the bathroom faucet, as per suggestion by health officials. Some students bought Brita filters and others paid for the 5 gallon jugs of water to be delivered for some exorbitant price, while the rest bought 24 packs of bottled water from Vons grocery store to lug down to the dorm for their hydration needs. I have to admit I was of the latter for the first two years of my schooling, before the absurdity of paying for water combined with some knowledge about the energies that go into producing and recycling plastic water bottles (generally holding nothing but tap water from another region) got to my head.

Over the next two years, I made a few changes in my consumption of water habits. I switched to a Brita filter and encouraged others to as well, took shorter showers, and ended up being involved in a campaign around campus senior year to encourage others to limit their usage of single serving plastic bottles of water. Then with the money they might have spent on overpriced agua, we asked them find an organization that works to bring water to those who haven’t grown up around it their entire lives.

It is not an unknown fact that access to clean drinking water is not available around the world equally. My small realization that my own consumption habits could be changed and I could give to an organization that provided relief to those who need it most made me believe that I could change other people’s patterns of consumption to do the same!

Today I want to highlight Charity: Water, an organization based out of New York, because this is exactly what they are doing. They are passionately asking people to give up a part of themselves to help drill wells in the places that need it most. I will let their video speak for itself and allow you to check out their webpage.

I bring up this organization not only to promote the good they are doing, but also the necessity of the Plant With Purpose programs that work to provide clean water as well. Our focus is on restoring the aquifers that lie beneath the ground. Aquifers are the source that can be tapped by a well and are meant to be replenished by each year's annual rainy season. In the lands where trees are almost non-existent, when the short rainy season does come there is nothing in place in the layers of soil to retain and purify the water. Thus, the water runs off the surface, damaging the topsoil and carrying mud into overflowing streams. Our programs focus on restoring the quality to the land and keeping the water they do have access to clean and drinkable. Here is a link to more information.

So my purpose in sharing Charity: Water with you all is not just to highlight a great non-profit, but again to show the relationship between the land and the people who live on it. Take 3 minutes to check out Charity: Water’s video and ponder what you can do in your daily routine to break a habit and turn it into something that helps someone else.