United Solar Initiative hosted its 2nd Annual Lug-a-Jug Walk on September 30, 2017 to raise funds for our work with World Vision in Sub-Saharan Africa. We are proud to continue this three-year partnership.
On average, women and children in Sub-Saharan Africa have to walk 6K each day just to get clean water. The Lug-a-Jug 6K Walk attempts to simulate what this population has to do each day. Participants carried an empty jug for the first half of the race, filled it up at a natural water source, and lugged the jug back for the second half.
Clean water is not universal. Almost 700 million people do not have access to clean water. World Vision supports 2,000 water pumps throughout Africa, South America, and East Asia providing clean water to a new person every 30 seconds. These water pumps are typically run by an unreliable grid system, diesel fuel or hand cranks. Our solar technicians, Ed Witkin and Jon Ruth visited Kenya, Mali, Zambia, and Ghana to train World Vision Staff to install solar panels to power the pumps.
Better access to clean water positively affects communities in many ways. If women and children spend less time getting water, they’ll have more time to get an education, empower themselves and have a healthier lifestyle. Our work towards alleviating water poverty with solar solutions is a smart way to increase water supply resiliency and accessibility.
