Speech

Official Launching of Cinta Air

Herbert B. Smith, Director of USAID/Basic Human Services Team

Bekasi, West Java | Monday, March 20, 2006

Welcome and good afternoon distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls and members of the press.  It is a great pleasure to be here today and to be part of this exciting event – the official launching of Cinta Air.  Cinta Air is part of a global partnership between the Coca Cola Company and USAID. The partnership enables USAID and Coca Cola to work together to improve access to water, and protect water resources.

Having safe drinking water is obviously a priority for us all.  As populations grow, pollution increases, forest cover is reduced and water sheds are eroded, we together must face the global challenge of how we sustain and protect supplies of fresh safe water.  This project, Air Cinta Air, representing a partnership between Coca Cola, USAID and the community here in Cibitung is an excellent example of how, together, through local efforts and partnership, we can start to solve this global challenge. 

As you know, the Cinta Air program officially began yesterday. These young scholars, who will become the scientists we depend upon to find solutions for problems we face today and tomorrow,  went all the way to the mountain top yesterday to seek the source of this community’s water supply.  These young researchers learned that what happens way up on the ridge has a profound impact upon the quality and supply of water you have here. They saw that what gets put into the streams coming down the mountain affects the safety of the water you drink. They have realized that we are all part of the problem and can all be part of a solution – if we work together.      

Cinta Air brings USAID, Coca Cola and the local community here in Bekasi together to address clean water issues through a series of integrated activities. There will be public outreach and education with schools and community groups to help them better understand the issues related to water resources, efforts to assist local leaders in tackling issues concerning the protection of water resources and how to improve the management of these resources. There will be efforts to improve water quality, the introduction of alternative or point-of-use water treatment technologies, the construction of community-based clean water and sanitation systems, and public health and hygiene campaigns. Upstream, the program will support reforestation and re-greening activities aimed to protect the watershed.  Downstream, the program will begin to unite the  lower watershed communities of Bekasi with community groups up “on the ridge” in Cianjur. This community partnership  is key to this program’s success,  and is a first step in solving the global challenge of providing safe drinking to for the world.  

Thank you all for attending the launch of this very exciting partnership.  I would like to take this opportunity to provide a special thanks to the representatives of Coca Cola, our Environmental Services Program and Aman Tirta partners and would like to give a special thank you to all of our young scholars.  You, the children are the future – your efforts here today make me feel confident the world is in good hands.

Thanks to you all.