Water Words

 

14/02/2002
On the last day of the Bonn International Freshwater Conference, a small group of us were inspired by the prevailing sense of commitment to take action, to share knowledge, to build other people's capacities and to empower the poor. We decided to act on these principles as individuals as well as through our ‘official’ capacities. We asked ourselves what we, as water professionals, could do that would be simple, effective and useful to others. So we launched a new movement called Water Words. We are writing now to tell you about it and to ask for your support.

The idea of Water Words is simple. Individual water professionals all donate to a fund to buy sets of practical books about water (water resources management, drinking water, sanitation, hygiene, etc). The sets of books are sent to public libraries, community groups, and academic institutions in developing countries. These books will help communities, professionals, activists, and leaders in those countries to manage their water better and to build and operate services more efficiently.

Now we have set up the fund. Working voluntarily, a small number of us are listing the sets of books, identifying potential recipient libraries, and looking for office space and volunteers to do the work of buying and sending the books. Our aim is to send a thousand sets of books, as soon as possible. On that first day at Bonn, we were delighted by the generosity and trust of just a few of our colleagues who were still around, who in a few hours donated enough money for the first four libraries.

We ask you to help Water Words in the following ways:

1. Please donate as generously as you can to Water Words. We suggest the equivalent of one day of your salary. You can pay this securely by credit card at our website: www.waterwords.org, or by posting a cheque in any major currency to “Water Words”, c/o The Manor 2056 Trust (Registered charity no. 1081063), 30 Manor Road, Teddington, Middlesex TW11 8AB, UK or to “Water Words”, c/o Pacific Institute for Studies in Development, Environment and Security, 654 13th Street, Oakland, California 954612, USA.

2. Please visit our website www.waterwords.org to suggest books to include on the list, to suggest names and addresses of recipient libraries, to offer to give us books, or to offer any other sort of help.

3. Please send this message on to all your colleagues and friends in the water sector, and to the media in your country to raise interest in Water Words.

To save money, we may not be able to thank each donor individually but will list all the names on the website (unless you want to give anonymously). If you have already given money to Water Words, we thank you sincerely and apologise for this repeat request. If you want more information about Water Words, email jonlane@sdnp.org.mw, j.soussan@geog.leeds.ac.uk or pistaff@pacinst.org

We have all benefited in our own careers from a good education, for which books were essential. Now you can help Water Words to give other people that opportunity. Through Water Words, you as an individual can make an immediate and practical contribution to solving water problems around the world.

Thank you in advance,

Peter Gleick, Jon Lane, John Soussan and other colleagues.