Today, SUEZ Water Technologies & Solutions hosted an event in Washington, D.C., that brought together water industry leaders to learn about Philadelphia Eagles’ player Chris Long’s Waterboys Initiative. By working alongside Long and his program, which aims to raise funds and awareness to provide clean water to communities in East Africa, SUEZ looks to help expand the audience talking about water scarcity and improving the security and reliability of the world’s water supply.
“I want to applaud Chris Long for creating Waterboys.org and for his work in helping to provide clean water solutions to East African communities. I am pleased and honored that SUEZ is able to leverage its network of senior leaders in business, government, NGOs, industry associations and universities to shine a light on the great work that Chris and his foundation are doing,” said Heiner Markhoff, chief executive officer of SUEZ Water Technologies & Solutions. “It is my hope that by increasing awareness of initiatives like Waterboys.org, we can collectively help improve the security and reliability of clean water around the world.”
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“For the last three years, my foundation has been focused on providing clean water solutions to East African communities in desperate need through the Waterboys initiative,” said Long. “By leveraging my NFL platform to bring together individuals, influencers and corporations as funders we have seen the power of collective impact to realize meaningful change. Convening meetings like those we held today with water business leaders and government officials is not only vital to our work, but essential to the ultimate goal of eradicating water scarcity.”
SUEZ has been an advocate and key technology provider in helping water professionals transform wastewater treatment plants from being disposal facilities to resource recovery facilities that produce reuse water, nutrients and energy. It continues to make its technology more energy efficient and implements predictive analytics to enable systems to run more efficiently and extend asset life cycles.
Waterboys began during a 2013 trip when Philadelphia Eagles defensive end Chris Long climbed Mt. Kilimanjaro. Long was struck by the beauty of Tanzania and the vibrancy of its people, but he also witnessed great suffering due to a lack of clean water. While in Tanzania, Long met Doug Pitt, goodwill ambassador for Tanzania, and John Bongiorno, president of the non-profit WorldServe International, and was further educated on the needs and available solutions to the clean water crisis. Returning home, Long began to envision a pathway to champion the need for clean water in East Africa while engaging other NFL players in the cause. In 2015, Long created the Waterboys Initiative, selecting WorldServe International as its benefiting charity. Waterboys will work with WorldServe International to build wells to provide life-giving water and all that comes from it – the opportunity for education, good health and economic stability.
