1

Clean Water
By Kelli LeConti

This picture shows

little kids getting
water for their
family that is very
dirty and polluted.

Table of Contents
1. Introduction **
2. Why I chose this topic
3. Activist Jennah Corkern
4. Activist Cynthia Sin Nga Lam
5. Activist Deepika Kurup
6. Solutions
7. Facts about Clean Water
8. Work Cited

Introduction
Picture this: you as a child having to walk a few miles to get water,
carrying two 5 gallon buckets with no shoes. This is what some kids in
other countries do every single day. They do all this hard work and
the reward is dirty water. Throughout this article, I explain why I was
interested in writing about this topic, some activists stories, and
solutions to the clean water problem. My evidence will present how
hard it is to live without a clean supply of water.
Why I Chose This Topic
Clean water is a global issue in the world today. Thousands of people live
without access to clean, purified water. I was inspired to research and make my
ELA project on clean water because I know how easy it is for me to have clean
water, but that isnt the case for other kids and adults around the world. People
like me in other countries, battle to get just the slightest bit of water, and it is
most likely filled with parasites and dirt. I am so grateful that I can have the
water I need
to survive and I wanted to find more about hard work and effort people in other
countries have to live through while trying to get fresh water.
Activist Jennah Corkern
Jennah Corkern lived in a Liberian orphanage for
years of her life. At the orphanage, they used drain
pipe water to cook, do dishes and drink because the
cleanest water supply was 2 miles away. This
statement shows people and kids have to suffer out
of force, because they wouldnt be able to live
without some water. When Jennah was adopted, she
was filled with parasites from all of the water she
consumed at the orphanage
. Parasites are organisms
that live on or in other organisms of a different
species.
In this story the parasites are most likely
bacteria. Jennah wanted to deal with the matter of
clean water and went to Teens Take Action (a camp to learn about issues
they care about). At Teens Take Action, Jennah met Grace another activist who
was interested in clean water. They together raised about $900 for Water 1st
International. They had bake sales and presented slide shows. Water 1st founder
Maria SmithNilson said
I get a bigger boost out of kids doing a bake sale or
some kid [who] walks in with their allowance, than any big check that weve
ever gotten.
(
http://www.seattletimes.com/seattlenews/teenwaterrightsactivistsharesher
storytoinspireothers/
) This quote highlights
Maria SmithNilson gets happier
when young kids do whatever they can to donate to the fund
. While Jennah was

in Ethiopia, she met Maria while reporting on water issues. Jennah hopes to go
to Liberia to help build wells after college.
(
The picture above shows a family getting
their everyday supply of water, but as you can see it is dirty and contaminated. )

Activist Cynthia Sin Nga Lam

Having a supply of clean water isnt the
easiest thing to get in some countries. Activist
Cynthia Sin Nga Lam created an invention to
help the clean water cause (shown in the
picture to the right). Her invention called the
H2Pro, is an invention that purifies water and
doesnt require an external power source (it
creates it own electricity). It produces fresh
energy and clean water at the same time.

She hopes that one day her

invention can be used to bring water and electricity to people in remote,
poverty stricken areas who are currently struggling to find access to these basic
amenities.
(
http://www.trueactivist.com/teenagerinventswaterpurifierthatcreateselec
tricitywithnoexternalpowersource/
)
This quote displays
Cynthia wants her
invention to help people in the future who dont have the things that are
necessary to survive.
Cynthias invention was featured at a Google Science
Fair, and she was one of 15 finalists.
Activist Deepika Kurup
Deepika Kurup, was in India visiting family when she saw kids and other people
on the side of the road, drinking dirty/polluted water that was too dirty for her to
even touch. When she returned to the US, she mixed chemicals together to
make a solution. She plans to provide clean water to families in India. Deepika
got interested in helping fight the clean water problem because science always
left her curious. Her science
passion got her interested in
global issues, which led her into
research. Advice Deepika would
give to people is continue to
pursue passion in science,
technology, engineering and
math.
Science has the power to
help people find solutions to
problems we never thought
could be solved.
This quote
shows
Deepika is passionate
about helping out the clean
water cause.
(
http://googleforeducation.blogspot.com/2015/08/spotlightonyoungscientist

deepika.html
)

This chart shows places where it is hard for people to get water and where water isnt
scarce and is easy to get.

This graph shows the percentages of people in places that lack clean drinking water.

Solutions
Solving and decreasing the
effect of dirty, contaminated
water is not something that can
be fixed in one day.
Thus
it will
take a long time. Many people
have put in work to help make
the water, how an everyday
person would need it to be.
Some solutions could be to have
water projects in the developing
countries, to educate other
people on the water topic to
make them interested in helping,
address pollution and to manage
ecosystems. These solutions
arent necessarily ones that
would be the most effective, but
I am just naming things that could help out the clean water crisis. As I wrote
above Deepika, Jennah and Grace, and Cynthia, are some activists who were
inspired to help out the cause of contaminated water
. Contaminated meaning
to make impure by mixture of something unclean.
They created inventions,
chemical solutions,and shared their stories relating to the issue.
Conclusion
Reporting on clean water, it has changed the way I think about water. From
now on, everytime I drink a glass of water, I am going to think of the people in
other countries who struggle a lot to get a glass of water like mine. I used to take
water for granted, but now I am more thankful. Think about it, do you think
you could live with having to work hard to get water, but water that was filthy
and dirty.

This picture just goes to show what our drinking water looks like and what their
water looks like, side by side.
Facts about clean water:
In developing countries, 80% of illnesses are linked to poor water
sanitation. (thewaterproject.org)
About of the world's hospital beds are filled with people who have
water related illnesses. (thewaterproject.org)
70% of the world is covered by water, but only 2.5% is freshwater. The rest is
salt water/ocean water.
(
http://environment.nationalgeographic.com/environment/freshwater/fre
shwatercrisis
)
Just 1% of freshwater is easily accessible
.
(
http://environment.nationalgeographic.com/environment/freshwater/fre
shwatercrisis
)
About 1.8 billion people live in places where water is scarce.
(
http://environment.nationalgeographic.com/environment/freshwater/fre
shwatercrisis
)
people who dont have access to a drinking water source live in Africa.
(
http://www.compassion.com/poverty/water.htm
)

WORK CITED

Circle of Life N.D

.Web. 3 February 2016
http://www.circleofblue.org/waternews/2010/world/expertsnamethetop19solutionstotheglob
alfreshwatercrisis/
Facts about Water: Statistics of the Water Crisis.
The Water Project. N.D.
Web.
1 February 2016.
https://thewaterproject.org/water_stats
Freshwater Crisis
National Geographic. N.D.
Web. 1 February 2016
http://environment.nationalgeographic.com/environment/freshwater/freshwatercrisis/
Ford, Liz.
UN confirms cholera outbreak in Dadaab refugee camps.
The Guardian
. 17 November ,
2011. Web. 29 January 2016
http://www.theguardian.com/globaldevelopment/2011/nov/17/choleraoutbreakdadaabrefug
eecomplex
Gross, Lisa. How Safe Is Your Drinking Water From Toxic Water Pollution?
The Health Key.
11 April
2012. Web. 10 February 2016
http://thehealthykey.com/?p=1210
Jssozi Files
Wordpress
N.D.Web. February 10 2016
https://jssozi.files.wordpress.com/2010/10/water.jpg
Peters, Adele A Whisky Inspired Solution to Clean Drinking Water
Co. Exist
10 January 2014 ,
Web. 10 February 2016
http://www.fastcoexist.com/3024559/awhiskyinspiredsolutionforcleandrinkingwater
Spotlight On a Young Scientist: Deepika Kurup.
Google For Education
24 August 2015. Web. 1
February 2016
http://googleforeducation.blogspot.com/2015/08/spotlightonyoungscientistdeepika.html
Statistic
Statistic N.D.
Web. 3 February 2016
http://statastic.com/category/economics/poverty/
Stiteville, Sarah. Teen waterrights activist shares her story to inspire others.
The Seattle Times.
23
April 2015. Web. 29 January 2016
http://www.seattletimes.com/seattlenews/teenwaterrightsactivistsharesherstorytoinspireoth
ers/
Vibes, John.
Teenager Invents Water Purifier That Creates Electricity With No External Power
Source
True Activist.
14 August 2014. Web. 1 February 2016
http://www.trueactivist.com/teenagerinventswaterpurifierthatcreateselectricitywithnoextern
alpowersource/
Water Facts
Compassion N.D.
Web. 1 February 2016.
http://www.compassion.com/poverty/water.htm

Water for Life

United Nations N.D. Web. 1 February 2016
http://www.un.org/waterforlifedecade/scarcity.shtml