Living Waters for the World Celebrates 20 Years of Providing Clean Water

Franklin, TN, October 26, 2013 --(PR.com)-- Living Waters for the World (LWW) is celebrating its 20th anniversary this year of providing clean water systems to 500 communities around the world.

LWW is a mission of the Presbyterian Church (USA) that provides sustainable clean water to communities in need while fostering long-term partnerships between volunteers and those communities. The organization has trained more than 1600 volunteers at its clean water program, named Clean Water U. There have been 42 training sessions completed.

Rather than digging a well, Living Waters for the World provides sustainable clean water through a batch water treatment system that, with training of local indigenous people in the community, is easy to install and maintain.

“This is a model for how to engage as the church,” said Steve Young, LWW’s executive director. “I have learned something on my own faith journey from this. And that’s from ‘me and Jesus’ to ‘God calls us into community.’”

Volunteers and communities in need of clean water — called initiating partners and operating partners — must agree on a business plan detailing how the water system will be installed and maintained. Community and partnership also exists among the Clean Water U participants, who are bound by a calling to the clean water ministry. In a time when the world seems so divided, Living Waters for the World is a ministry where people set aside their differences for the common good, Young said.

According to the World Health Organization and other sources, more than three million people die each year from water-related illnesses, most of them children. Clean drinking water is a basic human need. One in six people still lack reliable access to this basic need.

Currently, 780 million people lack access to safe drinking water worldwide.

At the water celebration that concludes the clean water training, participants drink water sourced from a lake that was cleaned that week by the students. The celebration is the culmination of a week of learning and working as a community, but the story is just getting started.

For more information please visit livingwatersfortheworld.org

About Living Waters for the World
Living Waters for the World is a ministry that provides sustainable clean water, fostering long-term, mutually beneficial relationships between volunteers and communities in need. To date, more than 1,600 volunteers from throughout the United States and several other countries have completed their training program, as demand for community partnerships continues to grow.