Global Recognition of the Crisis

Global Recognition of the Drinking Water Crisis

At the World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD) in Johannesburg in 2002, water was the only Millennium Development goal agreed on by all countries. Partnerships of countries and banks committed themselves to cut the number of people lacking access to clean water and proper sanitation in half by 2015. The USA will spend up to $970M over the next three years, the EU will continue to spend more than €1B annually, and $500M will come from the Asian Development Bank. Yet, with projected population growth, these goals will still leave one billion people without safe water by the year 2015.

Blue Planet Run is raising the bar. The focus of the above funding organizations has been primarily urban populations. Approximately half of those in need of safe drinking water, however, live in rural areas left out from the funding. This is where the Blue Planet Run Foundation will make a huge difference. There are many organizations that recognize the importance of the safe drinking water issue and are doing much to improve the situation. But we still lack a concerted effort to end this problem. The Blue Planet Run Foundation will bridge the gap by connecting effective organizations with proper funding so that instead of worrying about fundraising, they can get to work on the water projects they have engineered. In support, we created the Peer Water Exchange (PWX) which will enable us to roll out the enormous numbers of small, community based water projects needed. Read more about PWX here .