TEN thousand steps a day is not a high price to help those living in the world's poorest communities.
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So a group of MidCoast Water employees have put their money, and their feet, forward to raise awareness about the plight of those seeking drinking water in the third world.
Each day people in developing countries, mostly women and children, walk an average of 10,000 steps a day for the simple but essential purpose of accessing clean water for their families. This equates to walking around 8km with approximately 20kg of weight (the weight of a car tyre) once their buckets are full.
This quest for water has far reaching impacts on communities, preventing women from gaining economic independence and keeping children away from education.
As part of WaterAid Australia's Walk for Water event, the MidCoast Water team have committed to walking 10,000 steps a day for a five day period - between March 16 and 20 -to raise awareness and funds towards improving water supplies in developing countries. The team of Adam Turville, Jane Anderson, Lorelle Graham, Narelle Hennessy, Brendan Guiney, Rebecca Borwell, Kylie De Fina, Max Lowe, Craig Collinson, Maria Pitman and Julie Shepherd will be strapping on their shoes and turning on the pedometers supplied by WaterAid to reach the fundraising target.
"A staggering 768 million people across the world do not have access to safe drinking water, and that was plenty of motivation for us to do our bit," explained Adam Turville, the team's co-ordinator.
The team will also be holding morning teas and lunchtime events in their various workplaces in Taree and Forster customer service centres and MidCoast Water's laboratory at Bootawa, in support of the event.
Last year a smaller company team of employees raised more than $2000, so Adam is hoping their end result will be even higher this year.
This year's event culminates on World Water Day, March 22.
WaterAid raised more than $145,000 in 2014 after 750 people walked 30 million steps. This led to helping 1.9 million people gather potable water closer to home through better access, sanitation and hygiene.
MidCoast Water is a strong supporter of the work of WaterAid Australia and has paid the team's entry fees for the walk. Donations can be made at www.walk4water.com.au to team MidCoast Water.
