Fight oil with water - Give ClearWater

ORIGINAL: Rainforest Action Network

How can you help the communities of the Amazon fighting oil contamination and a historic health crisis? With water.

Use the tools on this page to help spread the word about ClearWater, a community-led project that is providing immediate relief to the people of the Ecuadorean Amazon. The same powerful communities that have been waging a 19-year battle to bring Chevron to justice for its toxic legacy in the Amazon are now building safe drinking water systems for themselves.

Find out how you can support the project yourself at GiveClearWater.org.

Project Details

The Amazon rainforest is home to 20% of our planet's freshwater. Yet, in Northeastern Ecuador, the ancestral Amazonian territory of thousands of indigenous people, the rivers, streams, and land have been contaminated by decades of oil operations.

While the indigenous people and farmers fight a heroic lawsuit demanding the clean-up and restoration of their territory, the ClearWater Project seeks to provide immediate relief to the men, women, and children of the Amazon who have been forced to live in a poisoned environment for so long.

The ClearWater Project is a community led initiative born out of the dignity, strength and determination of the Amazon communities with the support of organizations like Saving an Angel, Groundwork Opportunities, Rainforest Action Network, Amazon Watch and the Amazon Defense Coalition.

ClearWater is a community-led clean water project which seeks to provide sustainable clean water to more than 2000 indigenous and farmer families spread across 20 villages in the oil-ravaged areas of the northeastern Ecuadorian Amazon

The absence of readily available clean water has contributed not only to a health emergency, but also cultural loss, developmental disabilities among children, and economic impoverishment.

In early October, 2011, the ClearWater pilot project broke ground in the community of Cofan Dureno with the community-led installation of 52 rainwater catchment systems, benefitting over 300 Cofan people. These systems are relatively easy to install in villages and rural town homes, and if maintained properly, can last up to 50 years. Specially designed filtered catchment units will enable families, health clinics and schools to have clean water.

In 2012, ClearWater seeks to raise global awareness and financial support to meet the urgent needs of communities across the oil-ravaged Ecuadorian Amazon.