We are proud to provide a sustainable, affordable, clean and safe water supply and to manage and treat the waste water returned to us in a way that protects the environment.
28/08/2008
A local water worker is to witness a daily battle for survival in one of the world’s poorest countries.
Essex & Suffolk Water employee, Liz Scott, is one of 12 UK water company representatives who are to travel to Uganda, in Africa, as part of a charity expedition with the water industry’s adopted international charity, WaterAid.
Uganda, where the life expectancy is 48, has a population of 25.9 million. Disease is widespread and only 60% of the population have access to clean, safe water and only 40% have a safe place to go to the toilet.
WaterAid is dedicated to saving lives by providing safe, clean drinking water, sanitation and hygiene education in parts of Africa and Asia. A child dies every 17 seconds in the developing world because of the lack of these basic human rights.
Thirty year old Liz, who was born in Basildon, grew up in Wickford and now lives in Boreham, all in Essex, will leave her home comforts for the African country on Sunday, August 31, 2008, and will spend ten days witnessing first hand what it is like to survive without sanitation and clean water.
WaterAid has worked in Uganda for 25 years and to date has helped over 920,000 people gain access to clean, safe water, effective sanitation and hygiene promotion.
Liz, who works as an assistant hydrologist in Essex & Suffolk Water’s demand planning team at Hanningfield, will live a ‘day in the life’ of a family in a deprived rural village, living from dawn until dusk without the basics that we take for granted every day.
The charity group will also witness the huge difference WaterAid’s water, sanitation and hygiene education projects can make to peoples’ lives when they visit villages where WaterAid’s work is in progress or has been completed.
An excited, but nervous Liz, said: “I am apprehensive about seeing people with so little in life that I feel utterly guilty about the way we live at home. However, I am determined to transfer these negative feelings into the motivation to raise much-needed funds on my return.
“I am looking forward to representing Essex & Suffolk Water and WaterAid, meeting people who benefit from our fundraising work and finding out what WaterAid means to them.”
For further information on the work of WaterAid, go to www.wateraid.org.
<ends>
To arrange interviews with Liz before departure or on return, or for further information, contact Leanne Clough on 0191 301 6733.
<more>
WaterAid Facts
• Clean water is essential for life, but over a billion people in the world do not have it. This and the lack of sanitation result in over two million people dying from water-related diseases every year. The lack of clean water close to people's homes also affects people's time, livelihoods and quality of life.
• WaterAid works in 17 of the world's poorest countries in Africa, Asia and the Pacific region. These countries are Burkina Faso, Ethiopia, Ghana, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Mozambique, Nigeria, Tanzania, Uganda and Zambia in Africa; Bangladesh, India, Nepal and Pakistan in Asia; and Papua New Guinea and Timor-Leste in the Pacific region.
• Since it’s creation in 1981, WaterAid has given more than 8 million people in Africa, Asia and the Pacific Region a helping hand to a better, healthier and happier life.
• It only costs £15 to provide one person with a lasting supply of safe water, effective sanitation and hygiene education for life.