Time in Tibet:

Saturday, May 29, 2010

Clean water is still a problem.

Jacqueline Novogratz talks about clean water and serving BoP (Billions of People) in her book, The Blue Sweater and how essential it is to the population. Here, in a city of nearly 12 million people, clean water continues to be a elusive resource. At my hotel, a prominent business hotel called The Homeland Hotel, they have a sign on the counter that says "Tap water is not suitable for drinking. Therefore this bottled water is provided with out compliments." This amazes me. Chengdu is a major industrial city(did I mention the 12 million people?) in western China. Clean water is essential to a healthy population. Du Xin tells me they can't drink the water from the tap at his home, they have to boil it in order to drink it. This feels like a major failure of government.