An award-winning filmmaker from Copley is hoping to get enough support through a Kickstarter campaign to shoot her second documentary abroad.
Katie Young has a top-notch crew, and the backing of PBS, for her latest documentary 30,000 Litres, but needs the funds to make the social change film a reality.
30,000 Litres will take viewers to Ireland where the government has privatized water and imposed water restrictions below the recommended average human requirement. The film will also show viewers how positive activism can be a conduit to overcoming injustice.
The United Nations states every human needs 36,500 litres of water each year just to survive, but the Irish government is only allowing each Irish household access to 30,000 litres of water for the year, then charging residents directly for any usage above that. The move makes it nearly impossible for anyone to avoid paying additional hefty fees for a most vital resource.
“The issue is they’ve paid for their water through general taxation and these charges are in addition to what they’re already paying,” explained producer/director Katie Young. “Water is becoming the next commodity.”
With these restrictions, whispers of scandal have also been echoing throughout the country. Money that was supposed to go towards Ireland’s decaying water infrastructure is unaccounted for, tax dollars from citizens seem to have disappeared, and Irish Water, the company that now manages Ireland’s water infrastructure, has already come under fire for profligate spending of taxpayer money.
“The Irish are refusing to pay the additional bills and are starting a revolution against these outrageous fees,” Young said.
Watch the 30,000 Litres reel: http://kck.st/1OhLTgO
Follow 30,000 Litres on Facebook: http://tinyurl.com/30KLitres
Curious as to what 30,000 litres equates to? Here’s a snapshot, via thejournal.ie:
– 7 flushes of the toilet per day for the year OR one person can have 0.85 baths per day for one year OR two people can take a 5 minute shower per day, for one year.
“The Irish are being forced to make very difficult decisions about this precious resource which is a human right,” said Young on the morning show with Tom and Tina Wednesday.
Water has been at the forefront of many political controversies and public conversations in the states and abroad. From hydraulic fracking and injection wells across the U.S. to droughts in the western U.S., to toxic algae blooms in Ohio resulting in the loss of water in the Toledo area for days in August of 2014, to water privatization in Detroit, Michigan. You may even remember in 2008 when Akron tried to privatize their water. Citizens banned together forming a group to fight the proposal. They won and the ballot issue was voted down.
30,000 Litres will also expand outside of Ireland’s borders, shining light on the solidarity movement happening in Greece, the empowering work that’s being done by the Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund (CELDF) in the U.S., and a trip to meet with the Detroit Water Brigade, whose members have helped in Ireland’s fight against privatizing this most precious resource.
“With media blackouts and corruption in Ireland seeming to be on the rise, 30,000 Litres helps give the activists a conduit to share their story and provides a model of how positive activism can be implemented locally and globally,” explained Young.
To support 30,000 Litres, visit its Kickstarter page: http://kck.st/1OhLTgO.
Katie Young is a journalist and independent filmmaker who produced the international award-winning documentary, The Graceful Descent.
