Shall we order Mineralwater or Viva con Agua?

„Shall we order mineralwater or Viva con Agua?“ This is a question customers of a Hamburg winebar are asking themselves since last October. 2,50€ is the cost of a jug of tab water and the money is forwarded to water projects run by Viva con Aqua, a Hamburg-based NGO, campaigning for clean drinking water worldwide.

The awareness for water as “the blue gold” has increased significantly over the last years. In the US media-savy campaigns, such as the Tap Project, organized by UNICEF around March 22., World Water Day, as well as the policies of a number of famous chefs have contributed to this fact. Thus Alice Waters, chef of the eoclogically concious Chez Panisse in Berkeley, banned bottles water, of which the restaurant sold 25.000 anually, handing out filtered tap water instead.

The prize-winning documentary Flow, For Love of Water also condemns the privatization of what should rightly be a public good by a cartell of large corporations such as Nestlé und Coca-Cola and powerfully illustrates the disasterous ecological and humanitarian costs of this development. Check out the film’s trailer here.

What can we do?

Education is crucial. I for one was shocked when Jacob, our intern, told me yesterday, that Germans on average use 4.130 liters of water - daily!!! This astronomical amount is made up of 130 liters individual consumption - the water you and I use to cook and brush our teeth - and an additional 4.000 liters of indirect use. This stems from the fresh water needed to produce our daily necessities, from clothes to micro processors.

In order to produce one piece of paper 10 liters of HO2 is needed, while the cotton necessary for 1 t-shirt uses 4.000 liters. In 2007 alone, the semi-conducters produced by Intel and Texas Instruments used up 42 billion of water in the Asian-Pacific region.

I don’t know your reaction to these figures, but this morning I felt tempted to simply let the water run while brushing my teeth, just like in the days before reading 1000 Ways to Save the Earth. Optimizing my individual water use of 130 liters seemed such a futile action. (Don’t worry, I did switch it off).

Wells and latrines are a good idea

At the other end of the water-using spectrum are populations such as rural Ethiopians who hardly use any water at all, neither directly nor indirectly. For these, Viva con Agua is internationally active. The NGO, initiated by Benjamin Adrion, midfielder of the Hamburg football club F.C. St. Pauli (and offically supported by the club), is running the project Clean water for the Endode School in Ethiopia.

At this school in Central Ethiopia, a very dry region, 1000 pupils, teachers and staff have access to only one hand-dug well and one dry latrine. Thus most pupils have to squat in the surrounding fields to do their business, leading to many girls dropping out of school, as they are ashamed to do so.

Now Viva von Agua is building 2 wells, 3 latrines and teaches the pupils about water conservation and hygenic behaviour. A few years ago my family and I have been travelling in Ethiopia, visiting a simiar school serving 2.000 pupils and were quite shocked by the lack of any access to water and sanitary facilities.

The Ethiopian school project is also supported by a team in betterplace.org. I really liked the idea of Timo to start a fundraising team in combination with running the Heidelberg Half-marathon on April 26. With only 1 € you can support him and the Viva con Agua project. We wish you both good luck!