Our Hometown's Generosity

by Jennifer Wemhoff, The Groundwater Foundation

Tomorrow, Thursday, May 26, is a big day in The Groundwater Foundation's hometown of Lincoln, Nebraska. It's Give to Lincoln Day, and for 24 hours, every donation given to local nonprofits, including The Groundwater Foundation, is made bigger by matching funds. It is one special day when everyone in Lincoln is asked to make a donation showing their support for the organizations that contribute so much to our great city. Every donation given makes a bigger impact because nonprofits also get a proportional share of a $300,000 challenge match fund provided by Lincoln Community Foundation and their sponsors. Donor drawings will also occur hourly on May 26 -  an online donor will be selected at random and $300 will be added to their nonprofit gift. 

Lincoln is our home. It always has been. We're connected to our community. When faucets turn on in Lincoln, it's groundwater that comes out. Groundwater is the water we drink and the water that grows our food, and it's up to all of us to protect this precious resource.

Please consider making a gift to The Groundwater Foundation on Give to Lincoln Day and help people understand the importance of the water that nourishes our lives and communities - groundwater. For over 30 years, The Groundwater Foundation has empowered youth, adults, and communities to act locally and have a global impact.

You don't have to live in Lincoln to be part of this special day of giving! Use the online donation platform to give to The Groundwater Foundation as part of Give to Lincoln Day from anywhere.

Collaboration is Key

By: Jessica Wheeler, The Groundwater Foundation

I recently attended the Robert B. Daugherty Water for Food Institute's 2016 global conference, "Catalytic Collaborations: Building Public-Private Partnerships for Water and Food Security." This three-day conference brought various stakeholders together to discuss innovative ways to address water issues around the world, including groundwater availability, increasing agricultural production with sustainable water use, the effects of climate change on water and food security, implications for public health and much more. These issues cross political boundaries, affect farmers and apartment-dwellers alike, and require all of us to work together to implement meaningful solutions. Hank M. Bounds, President of the University of Nebraska put it best in his opening statement, "Complex challenges demand collaborative approaches."

The conference included excellent speakers from around the world offering their expertise and valuable discussion between conference participants. Check out videos from the conference.

 

Photography Contest from The Water for Food Institute's
2016 Global Conference

The theme of this year's Water for Food conference, collaboration, is also one of the most important tenets of The Groundwater Foundation's efforts to ensure sustainable, clean groundwater for future generations. Successful conservation and protection begin with solid partnerships. Like the Water for Food Institute's conference, the Groundwater Guardian program showcases the significance of multiple sectors coming together to create positive, lasting change - from scientists, policymakers, and non-governmental organizations to individual citizens. We all play a role in environmental stewardship. 

Find a way to get involved and build collaborative partnerships in your community with programming from The Groundwater Foundation! 

Groundwater Education -- Direct or Indirect?

By Lori Davison, The Groundwater Foundation

 

Groundwater education is a major part of the mission of The Groundwater Foundation—We educate people and inspire action to ensure sustainable, clean groundwater for future generations.  This is accomplished through various Groundwater Foundation programs such as: Groundwater Guardian Green Sites, Girl Scouts:  Let's Keep it Clean, Growing Groundwater Awareness, and the Water1derApp.  These programs can impact people’s lives directly and also indirectly.  For example, presenting at a youth event not only directly impacts the youth at the event, but also their parents when they take the information they learned home with them to share.

 

Impacting others is easy when you have passion for what you believe in.  For example, an individual that works for the company that assembles a couple of our educational products – The Awesome Aquifer Kit and JUG (Just Understanding Groundwater) is very passionate about what he does.  He sometimes attends events where these two products are demonstrated and is very proud of the work he does to bring these groundwater educational items to others.  If it wasn’t for that person and his team assembling these products, others could not be educated.  It doesn’t take big things to impact people’s lives in a positive way.  By recycling, conserving the water you use, or reducing the potential contaminants you put on the ground are some of the ways you can impact others by your good example. 

 

Think about what you can do every day to impact others to conserve and protect our most precious resource.   For more information about The Groundwater Foundation’s programs, please visit our website www.groundwater.org.

Share your stories of how your passion for groundwater has impacted others.

 

Celebrate Your Drinking Water!

By Cindy Kreifels, The Groundwater Foundation

Happy Drinking Water Week!  That’s right, we are celebrating drinking water this week, May 1-7, 2016.  Why celebrate drinking water – well because it is just that, the water we drink!  Pretty important resource.  

So where does your drinking water come from?  Seems like a simple question. But can you answer it? 

Sure it comes from the tap, or a bottle for that matter – but where does that water come from?  You might say the water tower, maybe the water plant or even the local utility.  That’s probably correct if you live in a municipality.  But let’s go one step further – where does that water come from? 

Yes, we are finally getting down to the source of your drinking water.  You might answer from a river, a stream, reservoir, or possibly groundwater.  This will vary depending on where you live.  This is the important part though – knowing where your drinking water originates and what role you can play in protecting it.

What can you do?  The Groundwater Foundation has a few ideas at www.groundwater.org/action/home/top10.html or www.groundwater.org/action/community/ideas.html.  Check these out and come up with some of your own ideas.

What are you, your community or your utility doing to protect its drinking water?  Did you celebrate Drinking Water Week?  Share your ideas and actions so that others can act too!

Cheers to a tall cold glass of water!