About 27 percent of people living in rural areas of the Congo had sustainable access to improved drinking water sources in 2004, according to the World Health Organization.
Unpurified water is a major carrier for deadly diseases, including HIV/AIDS, that ravage villages and people in countries like the Congo.
A LifeStraw is a portable water purification device that can purify at least 700 liters of water and can kill and remove 99.999 percent of waterborne bacteria and 98.7 percent of waterborne viruses. An actual straw, a LifeStraw is 12.2 inches long and 1.1 inches wide.
The Wolfpack Environmental Student Association is raising the money to send 1,500 LifeStraws every six months for the next five years to a village in the Congo. The University is the first campus to initiate a fundraising campaign for LifeStraws.
Teri Denault leads the LifeStraw Project, a focused initiative of WESA.
“It’s portable. It helps individuals. And it’s relatively inexpensive,” Denault, a junior in environmental technology, said. “We felt like it’s something where we could do a lot of good for not as much money, because it’s always hard for college students to raise money. We chose LifeStraw because it’s something tangible we could do to make a difference. We could help people and raise awareness.”
WESA is selling bracelets for $3 each, and every bracelet represents a LifeStraw.
Abraham Sutfin, president of WESA and senior in environmental technology, said when students buy bracelets they are paying for both the LifeStraw and the shipping costs for transportation to the Congo.
“They get the bracelet in remembrance that they’re helping people around the world who don’t have access to clean drinking water,” Sutfin said. “It’s also to raise environmental awareness in our community, especially during a time when we have a drought.”
WESA began fundraising by selling bracelets on the Brickyard the week before Thanksgiving. The LifeStraw Project is also reaching out to local businesses for financial support. Katie Grant, a junior in environmental technology, works with another member of the group to make presentations to different companies close to the University.
Grant said because WESA is committed to providing LifeStraws for the next five years, it will rely on businesses to donate every year. With a strategy similar to the Make-A-Wish Foundation, Grant is working with local restaurants, notably the Carolina Ale House, to provide the opportunity for patrons to add a dollar to their checks as a donation.
“I make my presentations, whatever business it may be, trying to get their customers involved through donations and a brief understanding of what this product is, what they’re donating to,” Grant said. “Many people write this off as tax-deductible. Hopefully, through word-of-mouth, it’ll become popular. And, hopefully other collegiate communities will get involved and initiate their own chapters.”
The LifeStraw was produced by the Vestergaard-Frandsen Group out of Denmark. A representative from the company contacted an environmental technology professor, who began working with WESA. Sutfin said he’s been working with the LifeStraw Project since September.
“The company had contact with nongovernment organizations we could work with,” Denault said. “So we’re doing everything through them. We raise the money. We buy the LifeStraws. And then they chose an NGO that will distribute [the LifeStraws] and collect them after it’s distributed them, so they don’t pollute the people’s environment.”
While LifeStraws have an international impact, Denault said, they can also make students conscious of the significance of clean water in their daily lives.
“We want to raise awareness of poor water quality and how precious a natural resource water is,” Denault said. “I feel like a lot of people take water for granted, because I definitely do. I turn on my sink and get a glass of water, and not everyone in the world can do that.”
Filter basicsThe pre-filter sifts out large particles such as dirt and sediment.
The polyester filter catches clusters of bacteria.
The water now moves through a chamber of beads saturated with iodine — a chemical that kills parasites and 99.3 percent of bacteria and viruses.
Finally, the water passes through a chamber of granulated active carbon, which improves the water’s taste and smell and filters out any remaining parasites.
SOURCE: howstuffworks.com
To donate LifeStraws, visit www.lifestraw.com
