International World Water Day is celebrated annually on March 22 as a means of focusing attention on the importance of freshwater and advocating for the sustainable management of freshwater resources. an opportunity to learn more about water related issues, be inspired to tell others and take action to make a difference. Friends United Meeting has been concerned with access to clean water for a number of years. Through Friendly Water for the World, our implementation partner, we work with communities in East Africa who have difficulty obtaining clean water.
Friendly Water for the World teaches communities how to meet their need for clean water and sanitation through the use of biosand filters, rainwater catchment areas, water pump repair, spring and wellhead protection, and raising awareness about best practices in sanitation.
There are a number of different techniques for making water safe to drink. Why has FUM concentrated on the biosand water filter? A biosand filter doesn’t use any chemicals, such as chlorine, that are potentially-harmful to humans and accumulate in the waste-water catchment.
Biosand filters are made in the local community, using mostly local environmentally-sustainable materials (concrete, sand and gravel). They’re not fabricated from plastic and they’re not shipped half way around the world. Biosand filters reduce the rate of deforestation by eliminating the need for firewood or charcoal to boil water for drinking. Local people can earn a good living by making, selling, installing and servicing biosand filters. The success of their small business depends upon improving the health of the community. A biosand filter will work forever, with no moving parts, nothing to replace or repair, nothing to add, no additional expense to the user. When a family isn’t spending money on making or buying drinking water, they can spend it on other essential needs, like nutrition, healthcare and education.
Most importantly, biosand water filters work! The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reports that the filter eliminates 99.98% of protozoa, 85-95% of viruses and 90-99% of bacteria in the water, and diarrheal disease incidence is cut in half in the community.
Why do Christians care about water? Whether it’s the cleansing water of John’s baptism in the Jordan, or the prophetic water of righteousness in Amos’ vision, or the salvific water of liberation in the parting of the Red Sea, or the living water in Jesus’ self-revelation at the well, or the justice-laden water flowing through the new heaven and new earth, water is a symbol of life. A symbol of God’s Life. A symbol of the Life God intends for all creation. Maybe it’s as simple as the fact that our bodies are 60% water and that water covers 71% of the surface of our planet and that it is the one thing we absolutely can’t live without.
Maybe there’s something in the fact that, wherever Friends go with the saving message of Jesus Christ, the first priority of new Christians is access to safe water. If water represents abundant life in its most profound sense, then unsafe and unjust water represents the death wrought by oppression, poverty and ecosystem destruction. Whatever the reason, water is powerful. It’s a powerful physical element. It’s a powerful spiritual metaphor. The World Health Organization estimated in 2000 that one out of every six people on the planet lacked access to a reliable source of clean water. Every minute of every day, a child dies of a water-related disease. Water is a gift from God and a basic human right and it is under threat in our world today.
Christians care about water because God cares about water, because water really is Life.
—Eden Grace
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