Every 15 seconds a child dies due to a water-related disease from drinking contaminated water. UT students are doing something to change that statistic.
The Christian Service Program, a group run through Corpus Christi University Parish, and the Catholic Student Association are hosting Walk 4 Water Saturday, April 21, at 1 p.m. to raise money and awareness for the lack of access to clean water in some parts of the world. The four-mile walk will begin and end in Centennial Mall.
“The walk is four miles long because we want people to get a feel for how far someone in a developing country has to walk to get water. People in these countries might have to walk six to 10 miles just to get to a source of dirty water,” said Antonia Chavez, UT student and director of the Walk 4 Water event. “You can help prevent suffering in countries around the globe.”
Walk 4 Water supports an organization called Clean Water for the World, a nonprofit group that is committed to providing simple adaptable water purification systems at no charge to communities around the globe. Just one purification unit can supply clean drinking water to a village of 300 families.
“In the United States, we don’t really think about this issue. We can walk to the sink and get clean water. It’s just not that easy in some places,” said Dr. Celia Regimbal, assistant professor in the Department of Early Childhood, Physical and Special Education and faculty adviser for the event. “Here we use 80 to 100 gallons of water each day. In these Third-World countries, they only use about five gallons per day. This event supports a noble cause.”
Online registration closes Saturday, April 14, but walk-up registration will be accepted on the day of the event.
