Ways to conserve on World Water Day, Michiana business helping to fight water crisis
Wednesday is World Water Day and Hoosiers are being asked to step up their conservation efforts to help people worldwide.
According to the United Nations, more than 600 million people live without a safe water supply.
The United Nations General Assembly officially designated March 22nd as World Water Day in 1993.
Although it’s not a crisis in the United States, a spotlight has been placed on safe water supply recently because of contamination in Flint, Michigan and East Chicago.
The Sustainable Development Goals, which was launched in 2015, includes a goal to make sure everyone has access to safe and clean water by the year 2030.
Jars of Clay, a rock band from Nashville, say during a trip to Africa they were shocked to see people digging for water in dry riverbeds.
“If people are wrestling with this disease that destroys the immune system, and then they’re having to drink water that is filled with bacteria and disease, it was the water ultimately that was killing people,” said Dan Haseltine, the band’s lead singer.
A Michiana nonprofit, Sonset Solutions in Elkhart, developed a solution for clean water needs.
They created a remote monitoring system that attaches to the water systems. It is a credit-card sized computer that measures the flow of water and sends that information to a satellite. Then, organizations can access the data collected to determine whether or not the water source is reliable.
If you’re looking to conserve water, advocates have some tips.
“Turn off the tap when you brush your teeth, or you can stop putting cooking oil or leftovers in the plug hole so that the wastewater becomes easier to treat than reuse,” said Danielle Bostrom Couffe with U.N. Water.
Sonset is also working on creating a software that can monitor the chemical levels of larger water treatment systems in third-world countries.