A Message from Chip Swab
“WHY I’M MATCHING YOUR DONATION THIS MONTH”
“As part of my volunteer work, I’ve been driving the roads outside of San Miguel for years. Over time, I have seen how these semi-arid highlands have been rapidly converting into vast fields of well-irrigated crops. I have wondered, and worried, what effect agriculture is going to have on the fragile water supply to the many small communities in the region.
“Now we know. The arrival and continuing expansion of these large-scale agricultural businesses, growing water hungry crops all year long, almost exclusively for export, has meant dramatically increased water usage. I know from my discussions with Caminos de Agua that this is contributing to the water crisis in our area – causing many wells in rural communities to dry up, while also increasing the arsenic and fluoride [levels]. This is seriously threatening the health of so many people in the surrounding communities.”
“I know these rural communities and their residents from personal experience. They are good, proud, industrious, hard working people. But they don’t have a lot of financial resources or sophisticated knowledge about their water situation. In the last few years, I have learned about Caminos de Agua. I’ve become very impressed with how they work with communities whose water is in danger. They come in and test the water, educate, and help get them organized and install water solutions.
“I think the work Caminos [de Agua] does is incredibly important, and their biggest limitation to working with more and more communities is financial. That’s why I decided to be one of the sponsors of this match campaign. Every dollar I’m putting up has the potential of doing two dollars worth of work in the field.”