Geography graduate student raises funds for water filters to be sent to the Philippines
Geography graduate student Adam King has raised funds to send water filters to the Philippines
Amid the Nov. 8 typhoon disaster in the Philippines and other countries around the world facing water contamination, geography graduate student Adam King is raising funds through the Wine to Water organization to send the country water filtration systems.
Recently, he recruited a number of local bartenders to donate their first $65 in tips to the cause, which equates to the amount of each Sawyer company water filter. With a donor matching some of the funds, 18 water filters are being sent to the Philippines.
King said amidst the terrible situation in the Philippines it feels good to be able to send them water supplies.
“I think the Philippines situation is horrible. They were hit with a monstrous weather pattern-typhoon and so far relief has been slow and I’m glad to be working with an organization that is supplying much needed materials already,” King said.
According to King, each Sawyer water filtration system, distributed by the Wine to Water organization he volunteers for, cleans 297 gallons of water each day. A push-back syringe that cleans or backwashes the filter allows it to continue to produce clean water and is guaranteed effective for 10 years.
King said he believes in the Wine to Water mission and that water contamination is a huge problem.
“A big thing Wine to Water preaches is that there is no life without water and half of beds in hospitals [around the world] are taken by people with water-borne illnesses,” King said. “It’s a crisis that has to be fought or managed. I don’t think a person should lack the ability to have access to clean water.”
King has volunteered for Wine to Water for two years. He first read the book by the organization’s founder Doc Hendley, “Wine to Water: A Bartender’s Quest to Bring Clean Water to the World.” Wine to Water organizes a program called Just One Shift program, in which bartenders are recruited to donate tips from one shift with 100 percent of proceeds going to the organization’s clean water costs.
King has been a bartender for the past four years at Bossanova Martini Lounge and Restaurant in Alton. King said he organized the Just One Shift program in the Alton and Grafton area last April and recruited the most number of bartenders who took part for that week than any other volunteer in the world.
Geography professor Stacey Brown said King first mentioned the project to her last year when Alton had an event promoting the Wine to Water organization. During Brown’s medical geography class this semester, King demonstrated how the Sawyer water filtration device works using water from the Mississippi River. She said she found it fascinating to see how such a small device can have an immediate purification effect on local water and thinks King is doing great work.
“The fact that this device costs very little money to someone in the United States [and it] can help so many people for such a long time is amazing. I think that many people take for granted our access to clean water and Adam is doing a wonderful job both promoting this serious issue and trying to alleviate it,” Brown said.
King said he hopes to continue humanitarian relief efforts after graduation.
Filed Under: General CAS Stories • Geography
