We Americans take clean, abundant water as a birthright, and nearly everywhere it is. But this isn’t the case in some parts of the world. When I was a young man I lived and worked in West Africa for nearly 10 years. I learned to travel with iodine tablets to treat the water I put in in my canteen. Where I lived, I boiled my drinking water and ran it through a filter. But I remember seeing wells that provided drinking water that was visibly contaminated by cow manure. I saw villagers draw water from streams where people washed – and worse. Water borne diseases were rampant.
In the past 30 years much progress has been made in Africa. Many donor organizations have helped villagers understand the link between impure water and illness - and they've built clean water systems by drilling deep wells. Other projects pipe clean spring water from hills above villages to faucets in the town square. This has helped reduce child mortality rates, especially for the very young. They’re highly vulnerable to dehydration and death from simple cases of diarrhea caused by contaminated water.
I support these efforts to help people have easy access to clean drinking water. I‘ve already served in the Peace Corps and I’m not going to sign up again. But a quick Internet search links me to several organizations that list helping third world communities obtain clean water as a priority. A little research will help me determine which ones are doing good work and are managed well. Then I can decide how to help.
Most of us living in Vermont or New Hampshire are quite privileged when compared to the rest of the world. We have free education through high school, excellent hospitals, good roads and much more. Having lived in the third world, I know lucky I am – and I’m willing to share a little with those who are not.
As for all those people living in Flint, Michigan? In the short term they need bottled water and filters. And I understand that distributing those items is finally getting under way.
In the long term, they need responsive – and responsible - leaders who won’t short change them to save a few dollars.
I can’t imagine how I’d feel if my grandchildren were living in Flint instead of Vermont, and were affected by the lead in that city’s drinking water.
The politicians who allowed this to happen should be held accountable.
