When Maria Inestroza’s young son visited the United States, the boy’s favorite part of the trip was being able to drink the water.
Clean water is scarce in his native Honduras.
“When he came to the states, he was able to drink water directly from the shower,” said Inestroza, an environmental engineer. “And he always remembers that experience, because back in our house we are not privileged to have clean water every day or water every day.”
Inestroza, the country director for Pure Water for the World, visited Queensbury Middle School Tuesday, and taught students about the need for clean drinking water in Honduras and around the world.
“I want to give water to everyone, from babies to kids your age to the elderly,” Inestroza told the students. “We all deserve clean water to drink.”
Last year, Amanda Breheny’s eighth grade language students raised more than $2,000 to help families in Trojes, Honduras have safe drinking water. The money went toward purchasing portable water filtration systems used to purify the drinking water in the Central American country.
“There are 8 billion people in the world but 2 billion don’t have access to safe, clean drinking water,” Breheny said. “So people are getting very sick. But we do know there’s lots of different solutions.”
Breheny’s current eighth graders are just starting their water projects and are also raising funds to donate to Pure Water for the World. 
“I have three eighth grade classes, so if each eighth grade class can raise $100, we can provide a biosand filter for a family that will last close to 100 years,” Breheny said, “so that’s not just a family, that’s generations of a family.”