Tomorrow, hundreds of people from both sides of the river will support the effort to bring safe water to more than 2 billion people around the world who don’t have access to it.
The 4th Annual CSRA Walk for Water starts at 9 a.m. tomorrow and brings teams and individuals from churches, schools and businesses together to combat the global water crisis. They’ll raise awareness and money while carrying buckets of water on a three-mile route from SRP Park in North Augusta. The distance is significant because that’s the average trek for people in developing countries to find safe water.
The event is held here and in communities across the country in partnership with Water Mission, a nonprofit Christian engineering organization that designs, builds, and implements safe water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) solutions for people in developing countries and disaster areas.
Water is mentioned in the Bible more often than faith, hope, prayer, and worship. Water flows throughout the scripture from the beginning of Genesis to the end of Revelation.
Aside from the spiritual aspects of water, it is essential for survival. A person can live for about a month without food but only about a week without water. A few statistics show the need for safe drinking water:
- One person dies every 37 seconds from water-related illnesses.
- 443 million school days are missed every year because of the global water crisis.
- Every dollar invested in safe water yields between $4 and $34 in global economic return.
David Parks owns Call of Dooty, a pet waste removal company in the CSRA. His small business is one of the event sponsors.
“We’ve supported Walk for Water from the beginning for two reasons: It helps our brothers and sisters around the world and it helps the environment,” Parks said.
Parks’ understanding of pet waste removal and environmental impact is in line with the World Health Organization regarding sanitation.
“About 1 billion people continue to practice open defecation,” according to the WHO latest report. “And hundreds of millions of people live without clean water and soap to wash their hands, facilitating the spread of disease, the second leading cause of death among children under five.”
Best Office Solutions also sponsors the CSRA Walk for Water. Co-founder, Sandi Shields knows what it means to be without clean water because she spent time in Kenya in 2005 on a mission trip.
“I’m passionate about supporting this event because I’ve seen women walk for miles for clean water,” she said. “If you care one bit about humanity anywhere, find your own Kenya and support the need. Why wouldn’t you?”
There is still time to sign up at CSRA Walk for Water. Registration is as quick as walking into your kitchen and getting a cup of cold water.
