Surfers Bringing Clean Drinking Water to the World

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This summer California was home to the world’s biggest surfing event, the Hurley U.S. Open in Huntington Beach. The week long event hosted 400 surfers from around the globe and drew an enormous crowd that totaled close to half a million by the last day. Surfing is the main even but fans were able to listen to live music, watch other action sports, and check out the surf industry promotional tents located near the Huntington Pier. One of the most popular and inspirational exhibits at the U.S. Open was the Waves for Water tent.

Waves for Water was started by Jon Rose in May of 2009. A surfer and world traveler, Jon has been on a mission to encourage other surfers that travel to impoverished countries to bring water filters with them so that they can help locals drink clean water. Surf industry giant, Hurley, has teamed up with Jon Rose and Waves for Water in an effort to make clean drinking water more accessible for the developing world. Waves for Water hopes to empower people to filtrate their existing contaminated water and be able harvest rainwater for a fresh source. Surfers and travelers can help by purchasing a Waves for Water filtration system for 20 dollars. This filter is easy to fit in a suitcase and is capable of providing a family with clean drinking water for a whole year. Moreover, those interested in the cause can also buy a Waves for Water re-usable water bottle for 5 dollars and all the money will go towards a filtration system.

Waves for Water is leading the charge in helping the one in six people that still don’t receive clean water. Millions of people around the world also have to walk an average of three hours just to find a water source and another three hours spent trying to sanitize the water by burning biomass. Waves for Water has had a very successful run so far; helping over a hundred thousand victims of the recent earthquakes in Sumatra, Chile, and Haiti. Bali, one of the world’s most popular surfing destinations is now home to 37 villages that are can drink clean water due to Waves for Water’s commitment to helping those in need. You can visit www.wavesforwater.org for more information and ways to help Jon Rose and Hurley with their goal of getting safe drinking water to the world.

Image Credit: The Ecology Center via Flickr under a CC license

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