The human body is full of water. Scientists have found that about two-thirds of the human body is water and all biological processes we need to live are impacted by getting enough clean water. The problem, for many, is that clean drinking water is not available. Despite the fact that the Earth is covered with water, nearly 780 million people do not have access to it and another 2.5 billion do not have access to decent sanitation. This is one reason that more children, under the age of five, die and suffer from diarrheal disease than from malaria, HIV and TB combined. While some people do turn to bottled water, given that the average American household uses 350 gallons each day, many people turn to whole home water filtration systems instead.
While it may be easy to look at stats about water in the developing world and think that water in the United States, that is not always the case. The water crisis in Flint, Michigan brought the seriousness of the presence of lead in residential water to the forefront. It has attracted people from all walks of life to try to help the community address the issue and recover from the crisis.
The call for help was answered recently by Wayne King. While he is best known for co-starring on, “Tanked.” He and his brother-in-law, Brett Raymer co-host the television show on the Animal Planet. The show’s location is the Acrylic Tank Manufacturing Company, which is based in Las Vegas. The company designs high-end and luxurious aquariums. In addition to making luxury fish tanks, King also promotes whole home water filtration systems. This is one reason the crisis in Flint caught his eye.
Recently, King and Frank DiMaggio traveled to the Flint area to check on an offer that had been previously made to the public school system there. DiMaggio is both a friend of King’s as well as an entertainment producer in Las Vegas.
King reported that he believed he had a solution to the ongoing problem. He cited the desperate need to clean the contaminated water. The purpose of the trip was to showcase how the King water treatment systems worked but even before the duo arrived in Michigan, the school system had made the decision to move forward with King and DiMaggio.
After first working through the idea of how the whole home water filtration systems could be best used in Flint, King and DiMaggio scheduled meetings with top-level officials in the Flint city government such as Flint Mayor Karen Weaver. King has said that he believes he will be able to deliver and install around eight thousand of the units every month. He hoped to get the water systems into homes, hospitals, and public schools. Each unit carried a price tag of between $1,000 and $2,500.
King has said that his whole home water filtration systems can make water in the Flint area clean and safe for a variety of uses such as drinking, bathing, washing, and cooking. He has also said that he is offering the city a real fix to the problem, not just a temporary, “band-aid.”
The project itself will be a pricey endeavor. Most of the funds that will be needed to do the job are set to come from various public-private fundraising projects that were started in the Flint area. Other sources of funding will be Elon Musk, the innovative founder of Tesla. Recently, he tweeted, ““Please consider this a commitment that I will fund fixing the water in any house in Flint that has water contamination above FDA levels. No kidding.”
A return trip to Flint is in the works for King and DiMaggio. They plan to document the project to clean the city’s water and use it for an upcoming “Tanked” episode.
King is both proud of and excited about the project. He has called it “the biggest thing I have ever done.” He has also remarked that the city of Las Vegas is very generous and that people there “can help anyone.” He also said that they, “have the power and should use it.”
