While the United
Nations designates March 22 as World Water Day, Rotary members around the
globe are focused on the issue 24/7, volunteering their time and resources
to provide safe water and sanitation to communities wherever there is need.
Rotary International's coordinator for water and sanitation projects,
F. Ronald Denham, estimates Rotary clubs are involved in at least 6,000
projects in scores of countries, all aimed at addressing the lack of access
to safe water and sanitation that claims more than two million lives each
year, a majority of them children. Denham, a Rotary member from Toronto,
Ont., says Rotary is committed to help achieve the UN Millennium
Development Goal that calls for a 50 percent reduction by 2015 in the
number of people with insufficient access to safe water and sanitation.
"This is an enormous challenge for humanity, and Rotary clubs are
logical leaders in the challenge because they are embedded in their local
communities, allowing the clubs to help define realistic solutions to local
problems," says Denham, who heads both the Rotary International Water
Resource Group and the semi-autonomous Water and Sanitation Rotarian Action
Group (WASRAG). "Rotary clubs also can draw on the global resources of a
world-wide organization (many projects receive funding from The Rotary
Foundation and form alliances with other groups and non-governmental
organizations to implement the most appropriate solutions."
A sampling of Rotary-supported projects currently underway:
- WASRAG is the lead NGO participant in the Tap Project, an initiative
of UNICEF that raises money for water projects by asking for a $1 donation
per glass of (otherwise free) water in restaurants across the United States
from March 16-22.
- Rotary clubs in the Rochester, N.Y. area are major supporters of
Water for Sudan, Inc., founded by Penfield, N.Y. Rotarian Salva Dut, one of
the so-called "Lost Boys of Sudan." Since 2003, the program has installed
17 deep wells in Dut's homeland. San Diego area Rotary clubs recently
signed on to raise funds for a second drilling rig.
- Rotary clubs in the United Kingdom are partnering with their
counterparts in South Africa to install innovative "play pumps" in South
Africa, Zambia and Kwa Zulu Natal. The technology harnesses the boundless
energy of children at play by connecting playground merry-go-rounds to
water pumps. A typical kid-powered pump can produce 370 gallons per hour.
- The Rotary Club of Nakuru, Kenya has launched a program to harvest
rainwater at the household level, with the goal of bringing safe water to
over one million people.
- Working with a local NGO in Rajasthan, the Rotary India Water Trust
is developing a sustainable water supply for about one million people in
650 villages at a cost of about $8,500 per village.
SOURCE: Rotary International
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