Giving Back
At Haglid Engineering, we work hard to help people live better lives by providing sustainable solutions that work. Why sustainable? Because to improve people’s lives, the planet they live on must thrive. We believe innovative, planet-friendly technology and design can provide folks with healthier indoor environments, clean water, and more affordable homes and buildings. When you’re lucky enough to work at what you love, it’s only right to give back by offering extra help to those without opportunities to secure it themselves.
Klas Haglid, P.E., R.A., CEM, NCEES
Founder and CEO Haglid Engineering and Associates
Director of International Projects Paramus Rotary
Healthy Water for Keystone, West Virginia
At the invitation of West Virginia Senator Edward Evans and Attorney General Patrick Morrisey, Haglid Engineering traveled to Keystone for a press conference with the town’s mayor, sheriff, and local officials. At the end of the day, $10,330,000 dollars were found for providing fresh, clean, and safe drinking water to Keystone’s homes and residents.
Klas Haglid has worked on international water projects and believes that healthy drinking water allows people to focus on bettering their lives and not just trying to survive. Haglid states, “It is important to realize that we have people right here in the United States who do not have the basic necessities of life. We do not need to travel to Burma, halfway around the world, to help save lives. We merely had to take a day-long car ride to help our fellow Americans and neighbors!”
Paramus Rotary Club Myanmar Humanitarian Clean Water Project
Of the 51 million people living in Myanmar (Burma), 40 percent have little or no access to clean water sources. Even if people can afford the bottled and purified water sold—and many cannot–at least half of that supply is contaminated with deadly bacteria and acidic chemicals as well. Hepatitis, Typhoid Fever, Dysentery, and Polio are the results of this devastating situation, causing debilitating illness, little opportunity for people to improve their lives, and often death. Myanmar’s citizens desperately need potable water for its many villages. Of course, with water systems drying up or becoming polluted globally, Myanmar is not the only location that could benefit from an inexpensive way to produce clean drinking water. Currently, we are facing a water crisis where 1.1 billion people worldwide do not have access to fresh water.
By 2025, two thirds of the world’s population may face water shortages. Droughts that compromise agriculture and spark wild fires are no secret. Polluted and bacteria-laden water cause illness and not just in remote locales; just look at Flint, Michigan! Humanity needs to find a way to produce drinkable water anywhere it is lacking. Now imagine if we could simply pull it out of thin air. As it turns out, we can. Myanmar (formerly Burma) LOCATION Challenge Solution Thanks to the Rotary Club of Paramus, NJ and two global grants from Rotary International, ten locations in Myanmar are benefitting from innovative, solar-powered water well towers engineered by Rotary Fellow Klas Haglid of Haglid Engineering