Neighborhood Notes

I had a really neat experience yesterday. I was invited to the adidas campus, located in North Portland, to talk about the excellent quality of Portland's tap water. The folks over at adidas have organized a group of "sustainability ambassadors," who are working to improve "green" practices at their company, from head to toe. The idea is that the ambassadors meet periodically and not only decide on changes they would like to implement company-wide, but also to learn information to transmit to co-workers.

I spent about 1/2 hour talking to this group of people about Portland's great tap water and worked on dispelling many of the myths and fears that people have about drinking from the tap. I was delighted that they not only listened incredibly intently to my presentation, but they also asked some great follow-up questions. I could tell that this group was really thinking about what I had told them. They even invited me back for their health fair in October.

The presentation was rather informal and at one point we got to talking about how lucky we are to have such a clean source of water here in Portland. The more I thought about it, the more I realized how incredibly true this is. There are so many people in this world who have zero access to clean water, have limited access or have access but are forced to pay out the ear for it, due to corrupt policies and politicians who manage their water supplies.

I opened my inbox this morning to discover that one of the newsletters I receive had a link to this fascinating National Geographic article, discussing the strained and corrupt water conditions faced by so many. While you read this article, remember to think about how lucky we are here in Portland, not only to have such a great, cheap public water supply, but also to have a government that prides itself on transparency.

To learn more about your tap water, check out the Water Blog at www.portlandonline.com/water/blog or give me a ring:

Jennie Burget

Interim Public Information Officer

Portland Water Bureau

503-823-7510