Dig Deep
How To Transform Luggage into Lifesavers
The next time you’re stuffing your suitcase for vacay (Sunscreen? Check. Chargers? Got ‘em. Guilty pleasure read? 100%), consider cramming one more thing into your carry-on: a portable water filter. Not for you, but for the 1 in 10 people worldwide who don’t have access to our most precious natural resource—clean water.
Waves for Water founder Jon Rose on a Motobike Mission across Bhutan. Credit: Dylan Gordon
Former professional surfer Jon Rose started Waves for Water after spending 13 years living the Endless Summer dream & crisscrossing the globe in search of the perfect wave.
1 in 10 people worldwide who don’t have access to clean water.
Although breathtaking, these remote destinations often don’t have easy access to drinking water. That got Rose thinking. What if everyone who was traveling for fun—to surf, skydive, hike, sunbathe, meditate — could also make a difference? All they had to do was add a portable water filter to their packing checklist.
Starting with Rose’s go-to surf squad, Waves for Water has grown into a worldwide network of volunteer couriers who each toss a 3-ounce filter in their luggage before heading off on an adventure. Each $50 filter treats a million gallons of water, enough to supply a community of 100 people for 5 years. In the 7 years since Waves for Water was founded, it has provided access to clean water for nearly 8 million people in 27 countries, including Sierra Leone, Afghanistan, Mexico, Brazil, India & Columbia. Talk about #goals, right? Interested in helping out? Getting involved is way easier than landing that aerial!
Waves for Water’s guerilla humanitarianism delivers clean water and smiles. Credit: Dylan Gordon
"Each filter treats enough water to supply a 100 people for 5 years.
Become a Clean Water Courier. When checking out the local weather & best restaurants during your next adventure, do a little research to see if your destination has a need for clean water. If the answer is yes, visit the Waves for Water site for info on how to purchase water filters.
Before you go, simply slip the filter (no bigger than a tube of sunscreen) into your luggage. Once you arrive, all you do is deliver your filter to a local school, aid group, government agency or other place in need you’ve found. Waves for Water calls this do-it-yourself, skip-the-red-tape approach “Guerilla Humanitarianism.”
Want to Scale Up? Start a fundraiser, so you can purchase more filters & continue your awesome guerilla humanitarianism!
Enjoying a Staycation? You can contribute to 1 of the 100s of Clean Water Courier efforts that are crowdsourcing on the Waves for Water site. The commitment is pretty modest. “The idea is not to change your lifestyle,”
says Caitie Rowe, the group’s Global Operations Director. “It’s about adding to it & feeling a bit more fulfilled.”