Bright Idea: WaterWear Backpacks
In a country where we can access the internet 24 hours a day, order food from our phones, and pay our bills in minutes, it's easy to take things like clean water for granted. For many of us, all you have to do is turn a tap, and there you have it. But in the developing world, things aren't so simple.
Carrying fresh water to the house is a task that often falls upon women and children, eating up much of their day with daily trips to and from the nearest water source. According to Greif, women in Africa walk an average of 3.5 miles each day to get water, and a single household can consume up to 90 liters daily. That's a lot of walking—and a lot of weight.
And that's where the WaterWear backpack comes in. Developed by the industrial manufacturer Greif and the brains at Impact Economics, the collapsable backpack is a simple solution to a complex problem. It is made of durable, lightweight material and can hold up to 20 liters of water. Instead of carrying heavy buckets, which can be cumbersome and difficult to manage in tough terrain, the WaterWear backpack makes it possible to fill up, strap on, and head back home.
Though optimal for everyday use, the WaterWear backpack is a product of on-site field tests conducted in Haiti during the summer of 2011. The backpacks were distributed to communities throughout the country and evaluated for efficiency, durability and comfort. The end result? A container that can save lives.
Thousands of WaterWear packs have already been distributed in Haiti, but the Back the Pack initiative hopes to do even more with Greif's innovative product. They aim to distribute 100,000 backpacks around the globe, but they need your help to do it. Find out how you can donate—and quench the thirst of families around the globe—by clicking here.
