Water Resources, Education, and Providing for Those in Need
An article in Lake Erie Living magazine features “Water Warrior” Erin Huber, founder and executive director of non-profit Drink Local. Drink Tap © (DLDT). The article discusses Huber’s goal to teach Clevelanders to protect our water resources and her determination to provide water to a school in Uganda.
One of the easiest ways to protect our water resources is to reduce our plastic waste. Plastic waste often ends up in our water supply and has devastating effects to our ecosystems, which in turn, greatly affects us. Most plastics are not biodegradable. This means that when something made of plastic (like a water bottle or a plastic grocery bag) sits in nature, it does not decompose. Plastics can break into pieces, or emit chemicals, but they do not break down and become part of the earth.
Huber teaches that one of the easiest ways to reduce our plastic waste it to stop buying bottled water. She explains that “Tap water comes right into our homes and buildings already treated” so we don’t have a need for bottled water. She further explains that there are many people who do not have this luxury and she has dedicated herself to teaching about the importance of having access to clean water.
While educating locally, Huber found herself wanting to do more for those who do not have access to clean water. After meeting a native Ugandan, who explained that Ugandan students walk 2-3 miles each day to find water and are often ill due to water-borne illnesses, Huber developed an extensive plan to implement clean water sources in Uganda… and the plan worked!
After a lot of hard work, fund raising, and organizing, St. Bonaventure Primary School’s 600 students now have access to clean water through a borehole dug to an aquifer flowing beneath school grounds! A wonderful accomplishment in the struggle to provide clean water to Uganda, this is only the beginning. With three more bore hole projects waiting for funding, Huber excitedly anticipates the day when she can travel back to Uganda and bring water to those who need it.
To learn more about the water project in Uganda, a documentary “Making Waves: From Cleveland to Uganda” premiers at a fundraiser on March 22, 2013 in Cleveland, Ohio. Click here for event details.
To read more on plastic pollution visit:
http://www.nrdc.org/oceans/plastic-ocean/
http://switchboard.nrdc.org/blogs/lmonroe/nrdc_kyra_sedgwick_take_global.html