About 250 people took a 2.5-mile march through Philadelphia yesterday to raise awareness about the global lack of safe drinking water.
The march, sponsored by Starbucks in conjunction with yesterday's World Water Day, attempted to give participants an idea of the trek which many must make daily to obtain clean water.
"In the United States, we definitely get to take for granted the fact that we can we can wake up in the morning, turn on our sink and brush our teeth right there," regional Starbucks spokeswoman Lisa Pomerantz said.
The march began downtown at Love Park and traveled past the Philadelphia Art Museum and the Drexel University and Penn campuses before concluding at World Live Cafe. Following the event, the Women's Sekere Ensemble, a West African musical group, performed at the cafe.
Pomerantz said that there were similar marches in 11 other cities in an effort to "mobilize citizens across the country to really know about the world water crises and to commemorate World Water Day."
Thomas Lester, who participated in the march, said there was a "great turnout, a lot more people than I expected."
And though the 2.5-mile walk was less than the average of 6 miles organizers said are walked daily for clean water in areas where it is not available.
Brian Simon, a student at the Art Institute of Philadelphia, said afterwards that he felt "kind of tired."
"I don't usually don't walk at all," Simon said.
He added that he "couldn't imagine" having to complete a daily 6-mile walk for water.
The event also featured Starbucks' Ethos bottled water. The company donates 5 cents from each bottle sold to global clean-water causes.
According to the Ethos Web site, 1.1 billion people lack access to safe drinking water worldwide, leading to the deaths of an estimated 4,500 children a day.
"As a result of that, many kids don't go to school, many women don't get ahead because their whole day is spent getting fresh water," Pomerantz said.
