Fieldnotes: Blogging on UNICEF's child survival work in the field

This Thursday, March 22, is World Water Day. I know what some of you are thinking: Here we go again, one more manufactured holiday to get people to pay attention to another issue! And, you would be right. Yes, the purpose of World Water Day is to put a spotlight on the importance of clean and safe water, something we all have access to in the US, and rarely even ponder. But many children and their families in developing countries don’t have this luxury.

Here’s why I’m excited about World Water day and why you can be too. Almost 300 restaurants in the New York area are going to help raise money and awareness about the importance of clean water and it’s scarcity in developing nations by participating in the Tap Project.

When you dine at one of the participating restaurants, you will be asked to pay $1 for NYC’s finest tap water. All donations will go to support UNICEF’s water programs and, in turn, can save and improve children’s lives around the world. With these contributions, UNICEF will be able to install more water pumps and increase access to clean water for kids.

So, how can just installing water pumps save lives? So many ways…most directly is that when kids drink dirty water, they can die from dysentery and diarrheal disease. Providing kids access to clean water will prevent this. Lack of access to water pumps force young women to travel miles to collect the water and bring it back to their village. In places of heavy conflict, like Darfur, collecting water is essentially risking your life. These women may be raped or killed in the process of gathering the water they need to survive.

It's mind boggling to think that lack of access to water can have such impacts for kids and their families.

Water: For me it’s simple, I turn on my tap and out it comes. I shower in it, cook with it, and I drink it straight from the tap. Until I started working for UNICEF, never did I realize how lucky I was to do all of the above.

So on World Water Day, March 22, if you can dine in a Tap Project restaurant, please do. Or, go to Starbucks. They are also helping in the effort for clean water. Then, the next time you turn on your tap to take a sip of water, just simply close your eyes and think about how fortunate you are.