Gym Plus working to supply clean drinking water in Uganda

GYM Plus, which has a club in Drogheda, has launched a charity initiative in its eight locations to help provide clean, safe drinking water in communities in Uganda.

Already one Gym Plus well has been drilled in Okello-Kuc in northern Uganda.

Sharing the same water source with animals is a way of life there, and children have died from drinking dirty water. The new borehole now benefits 172 local households, where people had previously walked 2km to draw water from an open well.

To fund further safe water developments in East Africa, Gym Plus is selling reusable 1 litre Camelbak water bottle and a smaller BPA free children’s drink bottle with €2 from every sale going to the project.

The reusable bottle will help to reduce the amount of waste plastic that ends-up in the ocean. Environmentally, plastic is a growing disaster. Different kinds of plastic can degrade at different times, but the average time for a plastic bottle to completely degrade is at least 450 years. It can even take some bottles 1000 years to biodegrade!

The hi-tech reusable sports bottle has a sleek spill-proof design, a wide-mouth opening and integrated loop handle, so is easy to fill and carry. Plus, by doing away with disposable bottles, harmful plastic waste is reduced.

Josh van der Flier, Leinster and Ireland rugby player, launched the safe water campaign for Gym Plus.

Something as simple as clean drinking water, which we take for granted in Ireland, has massive potential to save lives in East Africa, the sportsman said.