The Thirst Project

Here's a video from a friend I met at the DoSomething.org Boot Camp in New York City who's also in the fight to provide safe drinking water to others. His name is Seth Maxwell. Seth was a 19-year-old acting student in Los Angeles when a brief meeting with a friend who’d just returned from Africa changed the course of his life forever. Upon learning that almost one billion people lack access to clean water and that water-borne illnesses account for more than 80% of all global disease, he gave up acting to focus on water education. The Thirst Project is a movement of young people who are raising awareness around and bringing solutions to the global water crisis. Combining outreach and water well implementation, The Thirst Project has completed 392 freshwater development projects across the globe and reached 200,000 American students with its eye-opening educational programs.

Environment Italians Get With the Program, Start Drinking Tap Water

Great news coming out of the country that drinks more delicious bottled water than any other in the world: Venice is finally encouraging its residents to take from the tap and stop clogging the city with bottles.

This piece in The New York Times says that Italians drink 40 gallons of bottled water per person, per year. (We Americans drink a not-so-paltry 29.) That's a lot of bottles, plastic or glass, to have to get rid of by foot, since Venice doesn't have roads. So the mayor launched a campaign (see the hilarious poster) to get people to start drinking tap water, which, it turns out, is very delicious.

To boost the campaign, the mayor's office even leaked the juicy fact that "Venice's tap water comes from deep underground in the same region as one of Italy's most popular bottled waters, San Benedetto."

Anyway, this is great, even if the self-congratulatory tone folks use when they tell you they drink tap water is kind of annoying at times, whatever it takes to get the rest of the bottled-water-drinking world up to speed is good news.

This is article was featured in Good Magazine.

Water Down: The Embarassing Lack of Clean Water Access in the World

Good Magazine released this new interesting infographic recently on the lack of clean water access in the world.

How Singapore is making sure it doesn't run out of water

It may be one of the most developed nations in Southeast Asia, but on the densely packed urban island of Singapore, a simple glass of water doesn't come cheap, or easy. A highly modernized city-state with a population of around 5 million, Singapore has no native freshwater supplies. Instead, it relies heavily on imports from neighboring Malaysia -- which delivers up to 250 million gallons a day -- to satisfy the nations huge and growing thirst. At present, imports account for around 40% of its total water supply but, according to Singapore's Public Utilities Board (PUB), an array of alternative sources are in place to significantly reduce the country's future dependence on foreign supplies. A "four tap" strategy -- which includes desalinated, recycled, rain and imported water -- has won the PUB an outpouring of international praise, including the Stockholm Industry Water Award in 2007. According to Singapore's National Environment Agency, the country enjoys 2,340 millimeters of rainfall a year -- much of which is caught and funneled into the water supply through a network of drains, canals and reservoirs dotted around the city. Large reservoirs are found even in the country's most built-up areas. Bordered by skyscrapers in densely-populated downtown Singapore, the recently built $226 million "Marina Barrage" has become a popular tourist attraction. The project is part of an overall plan that will eventually see two-thirds of the island's entire land area dedicated to capturing rainwater. But for now, captured rainfall still only accounts for roughly 20% of Singapore's total consumption. Aside from imports, the largest alternative supply of water comes in the form of "reclaimed," or recycled, sewage. Using a system of microfiltration -- a process which removes microscopic contaminants as small as one millionth of a millimeter -- as well as other high-tech filtering systems, reclaimed water actually exceeds Singapore's drinking standards. Officially branded by the PUB as "NEWater," treated waste water makes up 30% of Singapore's total requirements, although officials ultimately hope that figure will reach 50% in the long term. Desalination -- the expensive process of removing salt and minerals from seawater -- accounts for the remaining 10%. Besides introducing novel ways to increase its water supply, Singapore is also serious about reducing demand. It tackles waste with a two-level tariff for both homes and businesses that discourages excessive use. "While we have ample supplies of water because of the four different sources of water that we now have, we do want people to realize that this don't come easy," says Yap Kheng Guan, a PUB official. "It comes at a price and we do want people to understand the preciousness of water."

Article from CNN

Happy World Water Day

From the offices on Varick Street in New York City to the makeshift village on Bowling Green State University's campus, I say thank you to you and to everyone else who's doing something to help advocate and fund-raise on behalf of the world's water crisis. An estimated 4,200 people will die today from water-borne diseases. Just stop for 10 seconds and let that settle. Now think, what can I do in between this years Water Day and next years to make sure that so many people don't die such unnecessary deaths? The number of deaths estimated from 9/11 was 2,752 people. You remember how you felt that day or at least I do as an American, to see death on such a large scale and to think of the heartache of all those who lost a family member that day. The only reason I used that as an example was to show deaths on a large scale on a single day, no comparisons outside of that. All of us have had a family member pass away and you remember the pain you felt on the day that they passed away. Now imagine the 4,200 different families that have to deal with such heartache each day because avoidable and preventable diseases in the water their father, mother, son, daughter, aunt, or uncle drank because they were thirsty, killed them. Dirty water can essentially be labeled the killer while the people who drink it, the victims. Each time these people who are too poor to afford a filter take a sip of their water, they're taking a chance at becoming very sick. Many of the deaths come amongst children because they don't have systems built up against what's in their water yet. Do not me but them a favor and demand safe drinking water and basic sanitation as a basic human right worldwide. The UN wants to reduce the amount of people without the access to the latter in half by 2015. Start playing your part. Today I'd like to also reward my friends who've committed their life to making sure people have access to safe drinking water and latrines who are celebrating today throughout various locations in the world. Anyhow, I've started to do some work here with USAID's MSME Project that offers communities to buy into privatized water systems which has proven very successful, getting over 14,000 families to tap into it so far. Instead of the guerrilla aid tactic offered by so many organizations, it's proven a lot more successful to get families to "pay what they can" to use these resources including latrines and water. It creates jobs, puts money into the pockets of these communities over time and creates the sustainability all organizations are striving for. Although lots of progress is being made in this field, 4,200 today, 4,200 tomorrow and 4,200 every day after that until next Water Day unless we keep acting more and more on this issue.

Fighting Corruption and Supporting Progress

Hello to All,

Sorry for such a long time without a post, I've been incredibly busy with my intern here in PP and also trying to launch Ordinary Celebrities. I have to admit to everyone that I guess I was a bit stubborn and naive with my approach when I first arrived here with where I was going to be funding and building wells. I originally wanted to have wells built in relocation sites like Domnak Troyeng but it's literally impossible for me to do so without A. Having the projects be demolished or B. Getting arrested by armed forces. Living in one of the most corrupt countries in the world, funding anything is hard especially when you're attempting to build in controversial/sensitive areas. It really bothers me to say this but I'm in no position to help these communities, simply put, if they want anything, they're going to need to get it from the UN(supposedly they have 23 agencies here although you never see them at the forefront of anything). The World Bank actually just admitted that their own mistakes have left thousands of families vulnerable for eviction here(woops!). If you want more to learn more about this whole issue or look at media related to it(this is my warning to you that you may feel sick while doing so) "Cambodia For Sale", forced eviction photos, LICADHO 2011 report. Pretty much what I'm trying to say is that I will not be funding wells in relocation sites but instead for communities in very poor rural areas a few hours outside of Phnom Penh. My dreams to build for the people of Dey Krahorm who have had things that they rightfully owned forcefully taken from them like their shelter, running water and electricity have been shattered by the same people who've evicted them. Building at relocation sites would be in a big slap in the face to Hun Sen and companies like 7NG simply because I'm doing the job they should be doing themselves, helping their citizens. Police officers who thrive off corruption here want compensation for anything done at relocation sites(even though they're not doing anything) and I refuse to support corruption. I've been in contact with 2 NGO's who work very rural near Kampot and I will be visiting them next weekend to see what we can work out. To those who've supported me and continue to do so, thank you and I will not let you down. If I can ask for you to do one more thing, it's to spread the word about the illegal forced evictions occurring in Cambodia(and worldwide=China, Brazil, Burma) because I think the reason the government continues to do so with such little regard is because the international public and media have shown little interest that it's a big deal to them. If people put pressure on the governments, they'll think twice about it or maybe even stop doing so. Play a part.

-Christian

Lost Cause

On Friday, February 11th, I will hike into Virachey National Park in Northern Cambodia with hopes of reaching Phnom Veal Thom on Friday, February 18th. A feat that trekkers say less than 200 people have accomplished. This trek will be the biggest mental and physical test I’ve ever had in my life. I want to challenge YOU as well, to donate and or fund-raise as much money as possible for WWTFG so we can build wells! While rea...ching Phnom Veal Thom will be a great personal accomplishment, the feat I really want to accomplish is for all of you incredible people to raise a total of $1,000 in the week that I’m trekking. Use the resources that I’ll be without like your computers and cellphones to fund-raise and raise awareness about WWTFG and the campaign. Ask family members, ask classmates, or ask your workplace to somehow contribute in anyway they can. If you live in South Jersey, we can collect the money you amazing people are able to get. If not, you can transfer the money to a credit card and make a donation via PayPal on the website. This feat can and will be accomplished, I believe in all of YOU! So from February 11th to February 18th, contribute in anyway you can to help out so we can reach this goal!

How to Donate: www.waterwetakingforgranted.com (Click the donate button under to help)
http://supportwwtfg.thinkgosa.com/ (Buy a shirt that has all proceeds go to WWTFG)

My Goal: To reach Phnom Veal Thom in 1 week.
My Goal For all of You: To raise $1,000 for WWTFG while I'm attempting to reach Phnom Veal Thom.

Thank You,
Christian

Media on wells in Cambodia

These two videos give a very good background into the water table in Cambodia and also the large amount this country is fortunate to have. Unfortunately for them, the water at the top of their water tables may have disease or viruses in it so they opt to walk miles a day to fetch water that still may not be safe so their children have a better chance of not getting sick or as sick. This accessible water seen all over the country can change families lives drastically if they just have filtered wells built. The filter takes out 99.9% of the bacteria in the water and the well creates a nearly endless supply for the family to use. The family can now use it for irrigation to produce different crops, to take showers, to brush their teeth and especially to drink. Well done Matthew Mcfarlane for the videos.