Sponsored by
The Park Foundation
The New England Grassroots Environment Fund
The Jessie B. Cox Charitable Trust
The Broad Reach Fund at the Maine Community Foundation
"There is a water crisis today. But the crisis is not about having too little water to satisfy our needs. It is a crisis of managing water so badly that billions of people - and the environment - suffer badly." World Water Vision Report
On July 28, 2010, the United Nations declared that clean water is a human right, yet more than one billion people in the world lack access to safe drinking water. Two out of six people lack adequate sanitation. 3,900 children die every day from water borne diseases.
While the governments of the United States and Canada abstained from the vote, everyday people and communities in water-rich areas like New England recognize that water, like air, is a shared, common resource, and have been asking: "Who really owns our water? Is now the time to plan for and implement good water management practices?" From grassroots community-based challenges, to new water withdrawals and bottling plant proposals, to state level legislation and commissions studying world trade agreements, there are a number of lessons to be learned from the New England efforts to protect our water resources.
Please join us on October 14 for a stimulating conversation about water demands and responses at state and local levels in New England. You are also invited to participate in a follow-up meeting on Friday, October 15 that will bring together non-profit organizations and grassroots volunteers from around New England to discuss community and state activities around water extraction.
Recently released:
Water Withdrawal: New England Community Responses to Protect Groundwater
The New England Grassroots Fund is pleased to announce the release of a report that investigates the issue of large-scale water withdrawal for water bottling, an issue gaining attention in many water-rich New England towns. With funding from the Jessie B. Cox Charitable Trust, this paper is the first in a series of issue-specific white papers that highlight the role of grassroots community groups in crucial environmental work.
