Are you concerned about the coming water crisis? Here’s an exciting opportunity to take awareness-raising and action to a new level. Water Hour, 8PM local time on June 11th is a moment in time for a celebration, a torrent of messages, an outburst of action for water! Water Hour takes a whole new approach: we must leave fear and guilt behind, reconnect with the awe and wonder of water in our lives, and create positive change from a positive place. It’s about falling in love with water, all over again. This event taps into the enormous power of social networks like Twitter, Facebook, Flickr and Youtube, allowing us to join together across the globe to create something wonderful. You can participate right now.

Just go to www.waterhour.org and follow these steps:

READY,
Reconnect to your most amazing, touching, or hilarious experiences with water, and share your water moments on the website for a chance to win a beautiful framed print by photographer James Phillips.

SET,
Submit your ideas for how to mark the hour and declare that you care on June 11th , and vote up your favourites!

GO,
Take part in the top voted ideas during Water Hour or express yourself in your own way – just be sure to share your action or message with the world through the Water Hour social networks.

KEEP GOING,
Declare your commitment, large or small, on www.waterhour.org to protect water at home or in your community.

SYNOPSIS

Water is crucial in maintaining our lives and society. Although people can survive without food for a month, they cannot survive for even a week without water. At times like when Katrina, the hurricane, swept across New Orleans, a great tsunami surged over Indonesia, and an earthquake hit Sichuan, what the survivors most waited for was water.

In January, 2010, an unexpected earthquake with a 7 degrees intensity hit Haiti, a small island country out in the Caribbean. The earthquake centered mainly in Haiti’s capital, Port-au-Prince, unfortunately the most highly populated city in Haiti. 200,000 people lost their lives. Government buildings, airports, and sea ports were destroyed. The government was virtually immobilized and this made it quite inconvenient when bringing in aid supplies. Countless people lost their families, homes, and everything else they had. The victims of this disaster did not have food to eat. Their injuries were not being treated. This time again, what the victims needed most was water.

Water can save people’s lives, but also kill lives. Since 1991 till 2000, 665,000 people lost their lives due to 2,557 natural disasters. 90 percent of these calamities were related to water.

The Haitians know that water is not just a “life-saver.” They have experienced the annual hurricanes that visit Haiti. Like this earthquake, the hurricanes have also caused great damage. In 2008, a hurricane swept across Haiti and left it practically in ruins. The survivors of the earthquake are already worrying about the damage this year’s hurricane will cause to the yet unrestored Haiti.

GOALS

Raise Awareness of the Importance of Water
Nothing will be able to exist without water. In each and every part of our lives and society, water is an essential matter. Civilizations developed, mainly centered around water. Where there was an abundant source of water, the lives of the people were abundant as well. Although water is a greatly crucial matter, not many people are aware of its importance.

Understand the Various Characteristics of Water
The earthquake that hit Haiti in January, 2010 provided people an opportunity to rethink about the importance of water. After the earthquake, people sought most after water to survive. The people of Haiti also are well aware of the cruel side of water. Hurricanes completely soaks Haiti every year as it passes by. We can understand more about water when we look into Haiti. Water is essential to maintain life, but life is sometimes also taken away by water.

Refocus on Haiti
The international society focused on Haiti after the devastating earthquake. However, as time passed by even the donations have started to slowly dwindle. We want to refocus on Haiti through the topic of water.
By refocusing on Haiti, which has gone through a disastrous calamity, we hope to once again catch the interest of the internatinoal society. We hope to be able to view Haiti with a new perspective and think of what kind of aid is needed and how it can be done.

Any partnership and sponsorship inquires mail to: friend@pursuitofwater.org

The annual hurricanes that pass through its country let the world know about Haiti. What the world saw in Haiti was always an image of floods and pain.

In 2010, we saw another, a different suffering in Haiti. A densely populated city was hit by a violent earthquake. Haiti was devastated. 230,000 lives were lost; the survivors had to desperately hang on to their lives to survive. We saw Haiti in search for water.

In Haiti, lives were lost, but also saved through water. In the summer of 2010, we (the Pursuit of Water team) are off to Haiti to capture the Haiti Water Story in camera and share with everyone.

Republic of Haiti

Haiti is a country located in the West Indies. It was a French colony, but was the first black republic in Latin America to gain independence. It is one of the poorest countries in the western hemisphere, due to continuous dictatorships. Most of the inhabitants are descendants of African slaves; the official languages are French and French-based Haitian Creole; the main religions are Catholic and African-based animistic Voodoo.

Three-fourth of the land is mountainous; the population is concentrated in the lower regions. Droughts and hurricanes occur frequently, causing much damage.

pursuitofwater.org/haiti

National Geographic Magazine featured water as a special issue on April, 2010. Great photography with a powerful messages on global water issues! Check out: National Geographic Magazine

Statistics

Nearly 70% of the world’s fresh water is locked in ice.
Most of the rest is in aquifers that we’re draining much more quickly than the natural recharge rate.
Two-thirds of our water is used to grow food.
With 83 million more people on earth each year, water demand will keep going up unless we change how we use it.


Americans use about 100 gallons (380 liters) of water at home each day.
Millions of the world’s poorest subsist on fewer than five gallons (19 liters).
46% of people on earth do not have water piped to their homes.
Women in developing countries walk an average of 3.7 miles (6 kilometers) to get water.
In 15 years, 1.8 billion people will live in regions of severe water scarcity.


One out of eight people lacks access to clean water.
3.3 million die from water-related health problems each year.
Washing hands with soap can reduce diarrheal disease by 45%.
An eradication campaign that includes a simple water filter has cut the number of Guinea Worm cases by 99.9% since 1986.


The weight of China’s three gorges reservoir will tilt the earth’s axis by nearly an inch (2.54 centimeters).
The longest water tunnel, supplying New York City, is 85 miles and leaks up to 35 million gallons (132 million liters) a day.
The Itaipú dam in South America cost $18 billion and took 17 years to build.
Dam projects have displaced up to 80 million people worldwide.


U.S. vacationers rank going to the beach or a lack as their favorite outdoor activity.
More Americans fish than play golf or tennis.
The U.S. recreational boating industry generated $33.6 billion in 2008.
In Florida, 3,000 gallons (11,356 liters) are used to water the grass for each golf game played.
U.S. swimming pools lose 150 billion gallons (567 billion liters) to evaporation every year.


Check out: National Geographic Magazine

Why do we focus on water?

#1   because nothing can exist without water
#2   because billions people are suffering from water-related problems
#3   because most people are not aware of or care about #1 and #2

No Water, Nothing

Water is the ‘source of life’, for life cannot exist without it. Water is necessary for the smallest unit of the human body, as well as for the functioning of the major facets of society. It transports oxygen and nutrients to cells and removes waste from the body. A person can survive thirty to forty days without food but cannot live for more than eight to ten days without water.

As individuals, we are all dependent on water for the most basic elements of our day – brushing our teeth, using the toilet, taking a shower, washing our hands, cooking, and drinking soda.

Water is the root of many other forms of energy. It is a key component in manufacturing and vital for agriculture and many global industries. It used to create batteries for our cell phones and our computers, power our buildings, regulate the heat in our homes, and drive our cars.

This means that the availability of clean water is determinative for the future of every community in the world.

Not Only Global Warming, But Water

Global warming is not only environmental issues but most people, including us, seem to have been very much focused on global warming when putting our interest in environmental issues.

Now, we want to focus on the water issues, it is also environmental issues, much connected with social problems concerning issues such as gender equality, lack of education, extreme poverty, children and maternal health, diseases and illness, and even war as well.

And we felt that more people should know about the seriousness of water issues.

Global Issues

One out of eight in the world’s population lacks access to clean water (2010). Even more importantly, lack of clean water disproportionally affects the people living in developing countries, who are the most in need of resources. In addition, factors such as population growth, climate change, increasing demand, poor allocation, degradation and pollution of water resources continue to contribute to water shortages globally. For this reason, improving access to clean water sources, and formulating sound water usage habits and policies are necessary for development.

Unsafe water and lack of basic sanitation cause 80% of all sickness and diseases such as diarrhea and cholera.
In some regions women and children walk on average 6km (3.7mi) a day to fetch water.
263 trans-boundary lake and river basins include the territory of 145 countries. This can lead to international territorial disputes.
1991 to 2000 over 665,000 people died in 2,557 natural disasters of which 90% were water-related events.


More

Tens of thousands of people were feared to have died after an earthquake of magnitude 7.0 devastated Haiti. Schools, hospitals and homes in Port-au-Prince collapsed, as did the parliament building and the headquarters of the United Nations mission. The Red Cross said a third of Haiti’s 9 million people would probably need emergency help. +Read more @The Economist

Haiti Earthquake Updates

@United Nations | @YWAM Haiti

You Can Do Something

Huffington Post Impact has launched a brand new way you can help the emergency efforts in Haiti. They team up with The U.S. Fund For UNICEF and International Medical Corps to update the online store with products you can purchase to benefit the recovery effort. On the store, you can purchase water purification tablets, emergency hygiene kits, protein biscuits and other items that will go directly to save lives in Haiti. +Read more @Causecast

Haiti Earthquake Relief: How You Can Help @Causecast

The American Red Cross, UNICEF, Yele Haiti (Wyclef Jean’s foundation), Operation USA, Save The Children, STILLERSTRONG, Partners In Health, Mercy Corps, Doctors Without Borders, Direct Relief, Oxfam, The UN World Food Programme, Baptist Haiti Mission, International Medical Corps, Catholic Relief Services, Earthquake Relief Fund, CARE

How to Help @KLTV

Mercy Ship, Compassion International, YWAM Tyler

A list of Charitable Organizations Active in US @MSNBC

Happy New Year!
Our first newsletter! +view Subscribe our newsletter. +subscribe

We are waiting for creative partnership inquiries from our future partners.
Any partnership or sponsorship inquiries, mail to: friend@pursuitofwater.org

South Korea’s Non Governmental Organization, Serving Friends International has given support to the Pursuit of Water.

Serving Friends International is a humanitarian, development provoking, non-profit organization affiliated with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade. They help serve people suffering from AIDS, poverty, and other hardships by practicing genuine love through emergency relief, life aid, and regional development.

Thanks,

When Tim went to visit New Orleans last month, John Martindale guided him through the beautiful French Quarter to the Garden District and the swamp of the Lower Ninth Ward. Since Katrina, John has been mainly focused on relief work in the most damaged areas. It’s been four years since the devastating blows of Hurricane Katrina. Here is John’s story of New Orleans and Hurricane Katrina.

New Orleans was founded in 1711 and is loved for some of the best food in the world, its rich history and culture, wonderful hospitality, European architecture and jazz. It is also known for it’s brutal humidity, Bourbon St. immorality, drunkenness, homosexuality, Mardi Gras and wide-spread political corruption.

Parts of New Orleans are under sea level, so the city continues to sink making it especially vulnerable to hurricanes. After 40 years of the weather channel crying wolf almost every Hurricane season, the big one finally came.

Hurricane Katrina made land fall August 29th 2005. The city seemed to miss a bullet at first glance, for the storm turned and gave the worst of its fury to Mississippi. But the day following Katrina, under a clear blue sky, several levees broke and moments later 80% of the city was under water.

Over a 100,000 buildings flooded, 1,000s of New Orleanians were rescued from their roofs, many houses in the Lower 9th Ward (where the worst of the structural damage happened) were torn to pieces, several house were picked up and set upon cars.

Though the aftermath was horrible, God has a way of making beauty from the ashes and has lead 100s of 1000s of volunteers to come serve, making New Orleans no longer “The city that care forgot”. The Big Easy has seen the hands and feet of Christ. New Orleanians will tell you that “FEMA failed us, the government failed us, but the church groups are doing it, the church groups are rebuilding the city”.

Youth With A Mission (YWAM) has had a base in New Orleans since 1982. After Katrina the Lord provided the help for the YWAM properties to be restored and after that came the tools to gut out flooded houses and the people to do the work. 1000’s of volunteers have joined us and have had the honor of being a part of something God is doing.

Even after 4 years, there are still houses in need of gutting and of course the need for rebuilding is endless. Residents often used their insurance money to pay off their mortgage and were thus left with zero. So help is most deeply appreciated.

you can do something in New Orleans,

If you would like to volunteer in disaster relief with YWAM, either personally or with a team, please go to ywamneworleans.org for all details.

John
YWAM New Orleans

On November 5th, Tim had a fabulous water chat with David Zetland in Berkley, CA, USA. They talked about the Pursuit of Water project and other water issues for about one hour and 20 minutes in a small cafe.

David is an economist and a lecturer at The University of California, Berkley. He is very interested in water and runs a blog called Aguanomics (The Economics of Water). He gave us a lot of information and advice on water. Their water chat has been recorded by David and you can hear it from his blog.

“…we discuss The Pursuit of Water (still in the planning stages), the interaction of supply and demand, the role of water in human settlement and role of religion in improving water distribution.”

from Aguanomics

Podcast: Tim and David’s Water Chat

Thank you, David for your time and help!