This Sunday, March 22, I am happy to be participating in World Water Day. The event begins at 1 PM at the World Trade Center Plaza downtown. It is aimed at bringing clean water to sub-saharan Africa, and teaching about the World Water crisis with many education booths.
* From 1-3 p.m., we will Walk For Water, a three mile activity to simulate what millions of people do every day in order to secure water for drinking, eating, and washing.
* At 3pm, I will kick off the rest of the afternoon’s activities with a speech focused on the 2009 World Water Day Theme, "Transboundary Waters".
* OMSI will present an exhibit called Micro-organisms and Clean Water along with music from Crème Tangerine and other exhibits that capture the worldwide water crisis.
* The World Water Day Concert Series starts at 6pm, featuring Stephanie Schneiderman, the Pete Krebs Trio and The Redeemed.
Proceeds to this event will go toward the construction of a water pump in Yirgacheffe, Ethiopia, through the non-profit organization Water For All. Please visit the link above for more information, and to register for Walk for Water. I hope to see you there!
It was great to see Water Bureau Administrator David Shaff and you, Commissioner Fritz, participating as global and local citizens in this event.
While I hope a new awareness day has been institutionalized in Portland, I'd like to see a much stronger focus on sanitation. MDG 7 of the Millennium Development Goals specifically seeks to halve the number of people on the planet who have access to clean water AND sanitation. 40% of humanity, between 2.5 and 2.6 billion have no type of sanitation at all - not even a bucket! For me and my (local and global) colleagues SANITATION IS THE KEY WATER ISSUE!!
Our neighborhood group PHLUSH has worked solely on Portland issues but we are proud a member of the World Toilet Organization. They have a superb website http://www.worldtoilet.org/ for local and global activists on sanitation issues.