For my global health class this semester, we had the opportunity to tour the Water Missions facility here in Charleston. Water Missions is based on Christian Values and they provide water treatment systems to developing countries that don’t have access to clean water. It was founded in 1998 right after Hurricane Mitch hit Honduras. Upon receiving requests for multiple water treatment systems for Honduras, two environmental engineers, Molly & George Green, took action to build a water treatment system. Upon arrival to Honduras, they were shocked by what they saw. The river that went through the village was contaminated with feces and harmful bacteria. The people had come to call it “The River of Death” due to the fact that everybody who drank from it, died. After the Greene’s had installed the new water system, people were still hesitant to try it which caused Molly to drink from the hose herself to prove to the people that it was safe.

Going to this place was inspiring. My Professor had actually worked for this company by conducting research for many years on the effects of their systems on different developing countries. When you go into the facility where they build these systems, the room is covered in flags of all the countries that Water Missions has helped. To date, they have helped 3,000 communities internationally.

Following every natural disaster, Water Missions partners up with FedEx to ship their water treatment systems to the countries in need. Many people don’t realize how extreme the global water crisis is. Billions of people are forced to drink dirty water everyday. This foundation is working to provide as many people as possible, clean water sources.