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World Water Day 2009 Marks Launch of UL's Yearlong Commitment to Water Quality and Conservation Education

Posted on: Thursday, 19 March 2009, 08:00 CDT

UL joins the Field Museum for World Water Day March 22

CHICAGO, March 19 /PRNewswire/ -- Underwriters Laboratories (UL), a world leader in product safety testing services, will launch its water quality and conservation educational campaign in the East Wing of the Field Museum, 1400 S. Lake Shore Drive in Chicago, from 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. on Sunday, March 22, 2009. As part of the organization's century-long commitment to public health and safety, UL aims to raise awareness of water sanitation and conservation issues through its educational campaign that includes water quality testing information and conservation tips.

"Nearly a billion people--that's one out of every eight worldwide--lack access to clean drinking water(1)," said Jeff Smith, General Manager, UL Global Water Business. "Children are more vulnerable than any other age group to the health effects of unclean water, so it is imperative that we launch our educational effort with a focus on teaching children the value of this natural resource and how we can protect it."

UL will launch its educational campaign during the World Water Day festivities at The Field Museum, which include family workshops and science demonstrations. At the event, UL will host several hands-on experiments through the use of learning labs, demonstrating how water contaminants such as E. coli and pesticides are analyzed in drinking water. Additionally, UL will host special viewings of the newly released Wild About Safety(R) Timon and Pumbaa Safety Smart(R) Goes Green!, a classroom edition DVD developed through a partnership between UL and various units of The Walt Disney Company. Safety Smart Goes Green! teaches us what we can do to help our environment - our air, our water and our world. Children that participate in UL activities will be rewarded with the Wild About Safety certificate and encouraged to make 'safety smart' decisions during World Water Day and everyday.

To date, UL has analyzed more than 2 million water samples for thousands of public and private entities, including the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). UL is a global leader in water product certification and is an approved certifier of water products that meet the criteria of the EPA's WaterSense(SM) program, which identifies and promotes the use of water-efficient products.

"UL has been testing the quality of drinking water and certifying drinking water products for the past two decades," says Smith. "Today, we take that commitment one step further to educate the public about the importance of clean, safe water to people in the U.S. and around the globe."

UL will be promoting its educational outreach this year in Asia, Europe and North America. As part of this effort, UL is a sponsor of The Field Museum's summer 2009 exhibition, Water (June 17-September 20, 2009), which showcases water conservation efforts around the world via hands-on activities, artifacts and multi-media presentations.

For more information on UL's water program, visit the water industry section on www.ul.com.

About Underwriters Laboratories

Underwriters Laboratories (UL) is an independent product safety certification organization that has been testing products and writing Standards for Safety for over a century. UL evaluates more than 19,000 types of products, components, materials and systems annually with 20 billion UL Marks appearing on 72,000 manufacturers' products each year. UL's worldwide family of companies and network of service providers includes 64 laboratory, testing and certification facilities serving customers in 98 countries. For more information, visit: http://www.UL.com/newsroom.

(1) Eight hundred eighty-four million people--approximately one in eight--lack access to safe water supplies, according to "Progress on Drinking Water and Sanitation: Special Focus on Sanitation," a 2008 report by UNICEF/WHO.

SOURCE Underwriters Laboratories

Source: PR Newswire

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