Water You Waiting For?

On Friday, April 28th, the members of the final group in Dr. Johnson's Contemporary Moral Issues class presented their project. Their idea addressed an issue which affected people across the world rather than simply citizens of the U.S., that being the global shortage of clean water. In their presentation, these students showed us the situation in multiple countries where the amount of fresh water available to the public was so limited, the people often had no choice but to consume unclean, parasite-infested waters, resulting in the development of diseases and parasitic deadly parasites in the bodies of many of the people who drank it. Not only that, but they presented evidence showing that if something was not done about this, the problem would ultimately reach our own shores. To solve this problem, the group proposed a large machine which would provide safe drinking water for nations in need of it. The machine would function as a kind of chemical irrigation system, filtering out the bacteria and other such filth from the water into large towers through the use of complicated scientific processes, making the water safe for people to consume and providing it to villages and cities. Additionally, this process would make use of the extracted materials by sending them to a company that uses them to produce electricity for these same villages and cities, not only making the water safe, but providing a constant source of energy and funding.

Not only was the concept of this ethical and helpful to a large number of people, the presenting group also backed up their product with realistic ways to fund and produce these towers. For example, they proposed a partnership with an industry that already had connections to the locations in which the product would be needed, allowing both groups to help advertise and fund the other. Additionally, they set up a website where people could donate money to the organization, or, if they did not wish to simply give away money, the ability to purchase paraphernalia of the organization, allowing even further advertisement and funding. They even explained how they would survive despite the existence of the LifeStraw which helped the same people without the need to build giant towers. All in all this group's idea was brilliant, easily worthy of a spot in the final presentations. Their project was detailed, their powerpoint intriguing, and their goal just. I can say without a doubt that I would be more than willing to fund this organization were it real.