By Justin Flynn
Most of us take clean drinking water for granted – but not Jack Timmins.
Jack was selected by Reece Plumbing for a $5000 grant in its Reece Grant, which is now in its second year.
The grant will be used for Jack to travel to Indonesia to help build more sanitary water conditions for people in need.
Jack, a chemical engineer at Laurie Curran Water in Ocean Grove, will travel to Indonesia later this year grant to implement a functional rainwater catchment system in the coastal slum community of Likupang-Ambong in North Sulawesi.
Helping out is not new to Jack or his family. He has assisted in several water projects already and his sister Yanti Turang founded LearnToLive, a not-for-profit organisation that helps to lower the number of people affected by poor sanitation.
“It’s become a bit of a family affair,” Jack said.
“It’s the main reason I got into the water industry – you have many opportunities to help people.”
Jack has already helped LearnToLive several times and knows what to expect.
The often depressing conditions are abated by the fact that he knows he is doing something worthwhile.
“The water side of things goes hand in hand with basic health,” he said.
“They can’t just turn a tap on like we do. The communities that we do these projects for just don’t have that. If they can afford bottled water, that’s fine, but most can’t so they are drinking high salinity water. They let their kids drink the fresh water first, though.”
