Rita Penman - 20-Jul-2007
- Environment Agency staff around the Anglian
region have been clicking their knitting
needles for months to knit a river of wool
in time to mark World Water Day (Thurs 22
Mar).
Aimed at drawing the attention of world
leaders to the plight of people with limited
water resources and sanitation, their knitted
river will be joined to others from across
the world in a campaign run by the charity
WaterAid and I Knit London.
More than 35 knitters from the Agency’s
Anglian region took part in producing 1,300
squares over four months in varying shades
of blue. Donations of wool were also made
by those who couldn’t knit and sponsorship
raised more than £400.
That amount of money will bring safe water
and basic sanitation to 26 people, something
most of us take for granted.
Regional Environment Agency managers judged
the knitters’ efforts and prizes were awarded
to: Jacqui Murphy from Lincoln office for
knitting the most squares and raising the
greatest amount of money; Sue Meadows (mother
of Jennifer Meadows from Brampton area)
and Charlotte Purser (Peterborough) for
the best designed squares, and the Agency’s
northern area office for donating the highest
number of squares per office in the region.
The squares have been sewn together into
serviceable size blankets which when joined
together make a river of 22.5m long and
1.5m wide, the length of a standard swimming
pool.
Around the world other knitters have been
toiling as well to create more than 40,000
squares with numbers still rising.
When all the squares are sewn together
the river will be more than 462 m long.
The Empire State Building is only 385m high.
Regional Environment Agency WaterAid representative
Pauline Smith said: ‘We have been overwhelmed
by the number of squares that have been
produced to make up our knitted river and
I would like to thank all those staff who
knitted, bought wool or sponsored those
knitting.
‘The Environment Agency nationally supports
WaterAid and during the last three years
we have raised half a million pounds. In
the region we hope to have raised more than
£15,000 in the last financial year.
‘I hope that these efforts continue into
the coming year so that we can help even
more of the poorest people around the world
achieve better living standards for future
generations.’
Once the campaign is over one of the ideas
for the river is to reduce it into blankets
and offer them to homeless charities and
disaster emergency agencies.
'Coping with Water Scarcity' is the theme
for this year’s World Water Day, which has
been marked each year on 22 March since
1993.
WaterAid has shown that safe water and
basic sanitation can be provided at a cost
of £15 per person.
While you're flushing the toilet, think
about this: the 10 litres in the average
flush represents the entire daily supply
of water for the majority of people in the
developing world.
ENDS
Notes for editors:
The international observance of World Water
Day is an initiative that grew out of the
1992 United Nations Conference on Environment
and Development (UNCED) in Rio de Janeiro.
The United Nations General Assembly designated
22 March of each year as the World Day for
Water by adopting a resolution to be observed
starting in 1993.
WaterAid works in 17 countries in Africa
and Asia, and to date has helped over eight
million and a half people gain access to
safe water and sanitation. WaterAid will
contribute to help the world's poorest people
gain access to these basic needs through
its project work, and increasingly by influencing
policy decisions.
