Matt Damon, in his continued efforts as a spokesmen and activist for clean water access, announced the launch of Water.org yesterday.The organization was founded as a partnership between the directors of WaterPartners, H2O Africa and Damon, bringing together some of the most reputable water organizations and experts in the field under one roof. Their goal is to provide relief for the 890 million people who don't have access to safe drinking water, and 2.5 billion without access to clean sanitation, a formidable task.
Water.org plans to bring a new level of awareness to water issues worldwide by extensive outreach and advocacy. They also plan on pressing the water technology industry into finding new solutions to provide clean water and new models to fund the effort.
Water access in the developing world is an ever growing concern. According to the World Health Organization, 3.5 million people die every year from water related diseases. Hopefully this new organization will be able to bring the relief to the astonishing amount of people who don't have access to the water we often take for granted.
This is a wonderful thing Matt Damon is doing is long as it doesn't result in corporate control with unnecessary, unsustainable infrastructure and unreasonable charges that exploit the water. Water ought to be a human right, not a commodity.