WorldWide Drilling Resource®

42 FEBRUARY 2020 WorldWide Drilling Resource ® Helping Rural America with Water Well Needs Adapted from Information by the Water Systems Council and The Chris Long Foundation Part of the mission of the Water Well Trust, created by the Water Systems Council, is to provide clean water for low-income families across the country. This national nonprofit organization is partnering with The Chris Long Foundation and the Rural Community Assistance Partnership (RCAP) to create a new domestic water program called Hometown H 20 . Hometown H 20 will fund and drill water wells for low-income households without access to water at home or within a rea- sonable distance. By raising funds to build individual wells, as well as small, shared wells, Hometown H 20 will be able to provide safe drinking water to American homes in need in one of the most cost-effective ways. This partnership is expected to help the estimated 1.5 million Americans living without access to clean, safe, affordable drinking water. The name Chris Long may sound familiar to football fans, he is a two-time Super Bowl Champion, the 2018 NFL Walter Payton Man of the Year, and son of pro football Hall of Famer Howie Long. Chris began his foundation, dedicated to raising funds and awareness for clean water communities in East Africa, in 2015. One of the initiatives of the Chris Long Foundation is Waterboys, which brings NFL players, their fans, corporate sponsors, and other charitable organizations, together to raise funds for sustainable clean water wells through WorldServe International, the initiative’s benefiting charity. Long has recruited 26 players from over 20 different teams to serve as their club’s “waterboy.” With a goal to build a well representing each of the 32 NFL teams, the group has raised over $1.3 million to date, enough to build 24 wells. Long recently decided to expand the foundation’s mission to include meeting the needs of Americans without access to clean, safe drinking water. “It’s always been a passion of mine to connect our work abroad with our work domestically,” said Long. “We are committed to making a huge difference domestically and will focus on the water issues that affect pri- marily rural, impoverished communities.” Margaret Martens, Water Well Trust program director said, “This partnership will provide fan- tastic new resources for meeting the needs of Americans without access to clean, safe water. The Trust has a long waiting list of families who have been hanging on for years, hoping for this kind of help. For them, every day with- out water is a struggle. Hometown H 20 will help us fulfill the promise of a better life for these American families much more quickly.” The Water Well Trust maintains a wait-list of American households requesting funding for the drilling of new wells or reha- bilitation of nonfunctioning wells in high-need, low-resource rural areas. WTR