CNA\/EWTN News<\/a>).- A project encouraging Americans to live for a few days on the bare minimum of water will help them understand poverty and treat those without clean water as brothers, a water access advocate has said.<\/p>\n\t\u201cIf you really want to live in solidarity with the poor, if you want to build some awareness in yourself about this issue and about the importance of the water that you are so blessed to have access to, take the 4Liter Challenge,\u201d said George McGraw, executive director of DigDeep Water.<\/p>\n
\t\u201cIt\u2019s not hard, but it\u2019s incredibly life-changing.\u201d<\/p>\n
\tThe 4Liter Challenge, a program of the Los Angeles-based DigDeep Water, is set to run from Oct. 14-21. It asks people to live for several days on four liters of water per day \u2013 only slightly more than one gallon; this is the minimum amount of clean water a person needs to survive.<\/p>\n
\tThe challenge aims to raise awareness about \u201cwater poverty,\u201d the lack of clean water that many poor people face, both in the U.S. and around the world.<\/p>\n
\t\u201cThere is, in my experience, no simpler or more profound challenge that can really change the way you look at something so quickly and so effectively,\u201d McGraw told CNA Sept. 30.<\/p>\n
\t\u201cYou\u2019ll finish the 4Liter Challenge and you\u2019ll wake up every day, and as soon as you turn on the tap you\u2019ll be reminded of that experience.\u201d<\/p>\n
\tParticipants in the challenge can sign up on an interactive site to share their experiences with friends and family and to collect donations to help others access water.<\/p>\n
\t\u201cThe 4Liter\u00a0 Challenge simulates that experience of people every day: the experience of having to only collect a little bit of water and figure out what you are going to use it for,\u201d McGraw added.<\/p>\n
\t\u201cIt really is a true experience of poverty.\u201d<\/p>\n
\tThe program, he explained, aims \u201cto make Americans more conscious of their own water consumption and help them to see their own access to water as an important human right that they need to safeguard.\u201d<\/p>\n
\tAccording to McGraw, Americans consume more water than anyone else globally, up to 550 liters (145 gallons) per person per day in drinking, cooking, watering the lawn, and other tasks.\u00a0 Experts estimate that 50 liters (13 gallons) per day is needed for a person to live \u201ca normal, healthy life.\u201d<\/p>\n
\tEconomic poverty or natural disaster can hinder access to water, as can social or political pressures and infrastructure breakdown.<\/p>\n
\tAlmost 800 million people lack access to clean water. About\u00a080 percent of diseases are caused by unclean water, and about 4,500 children die from water-borne illnesses every day.<\/p>\n
\tWater poverty is a significant problem on Native American reservations in the U.S. About 13 percent of reservation residents lack running water or flush toilets, a figure worse than some African or Latin American countries.<\/p>\n
\tDigDeep Water has water access projects in the U.S., South Sudan, Sudan, Cameroon, and Kenya.<\/p>\n
\tMcGraw, a Catholic, served as a human rights lawyer in an international development organization before founding the organization.<\/p>\n
\tHe said DigDeep Water aims to unite both water conservation efforts and water access efforts. At present, advocacy is spread across separate networks and separate organizations that rarely work together.<\/p>\n
\t\u201cIt makes sense to bridge that gap between the two schools of thought. Water is a basic human right that we all need access to. For that reason, we all have a responsibility to safeguard it.\u201d<\/p>\n
\t\u201cFrom a Catholic standpoint, this is what we talk about when we talk about common goods or basic human dignity being tied to basic human needs. There are certain gifts that God has given us in nature that we use to fulfill our needs and recognize their dignity, which we have first and foremost from him.\u201d<\/p>\n
\tDigDeep Water is a secular organization, but McGraw said his personal philosophy of human rights and human dignity is \u201ccentered really firmly in Catholic social teaching.\u201d<\/p>\n
\tHe cited Catholic thought\u2019s emphasis on \u201cthe structural importance of understanding, first and foremost, that all of our social, economic and environmental issues come from our relationships, not just with each other, but with God.\u201d<\/p>\n
\t\u201cWe need to really care, on a personal level, about why water poverty matters. We will not be successful until we understand why it is a problem, why water matters.\u201d<\/p>\n
\tMcGraw said he found inspiration in Pope Francis\u2019 words in his recent interview with America Magazine. McGraw said that a \u201cresponsive, effective Church\u201d that aims to meet the \u201cwounded\u201d and the \u201chopeless\u201d needs to \u201cexperience poverty, find people in their poverty, and assist them as our brothers and sisters, not as aid recipients far away.\u201d<\/p>\n
\tWater access projects tend to have a high failure rate, but McGraw said this mindset is showing results: all of DigDeep Water\u2019s field projects are still active.<\/p>\n
\t\u201cWe have a great relationship with the communities we help, and I think that, as simple as it might be, is why we are successful.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n
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