the cistern

RainCatchers practices triple bottom line economics. Success is measured in three areas:

• People
• Planet
• Profit

We will be profitable, but in a way that is in harmony with people and the planet.

The planet portion of the equation is honestly not that hard to keep in focus when your business exists to help others harvest and steward the earth's most precious resource, allowing them to use water in a sustainable way.

But what of the people part?

Being in our line of business keeps us constantly dialed-in to the issues and challenges of water use worldwide. Even with recent droughts and diminishing supplies, our water woes are relatively minor when compared to other parts of the world. Here are some facts that have captured our attention:

• 1.1 billion people do not have access to clean drinking water
• Half of the world's poor suffer from waterborne disease
• 6000 people [mostly children] will die today because of illness related to polluted and contaminated water

Imagine if you woke up in the morning and didn't know where you were going to get clean water for your children to drink. That's the reality many will face tomorrow.

So we've decided to commit 1% of profits to provide solutions where water issues are the worst.

One solution we support is LifeStraw, a personal, low cost purification tool that can provide a child clean drinking water for up to one year. It's a nine inch water filter in a straw that can save lives without spare parts, electricity, or maintenance.

Swiss company Vestergaard-Frandsen developed the LifeStraw in conjunction with Atlanta's Carter Center. This simple but effective device was hailed by Time Magazine as 'Invention of the Year' in 2005 and has been referred to as 'one of the ten things that will change the way we live' by Forbes Magazine.

For a little more than the cost of a large cup of Starbucks coffee, a LifeStraw Personal purifier can be an astounding investment in the well being of a person. That's maximum benefit from our contribution as we seek to do good work while we do business.