The founder of Cirque du Soleil Guy Laliberté launches a global foundation to deal with access to water issues

Distribution Source : Canada NewsWire

Date: Monday - October 29, 2007

 

MONTREAL, Oct. 29 /CNW Telbec/ - Guy Laliberté announced today, in the presence of H.S.H. Prince Albert II of Monaco, Jeremy Hobbs, Executive Director of Oxfam International, and Gordon Nixon, President and Chief Executive Officer of RBC, the official launch of the ONE DROP Foundation to fight poverty in the world by giving everyone access to water.

"No one can remain indifferent when we know that at least every eight seconds, a child dies from a disease caused by drinking contaminated water," said Guy Laliberté. "With the creation of ONE DROP, we want to mobilize people everywhere in the world to find sustainable solutions to the problem of access to water, and to adopt better practices for the use of this precious resource."

Access to water is one of the planet's most pressing issues. Over a billion people do not have access to water in sufficient quantity or adequate quality. Almost half of the world's population drinks untreated water.