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"  The pain felt like knives stabbing through her gut. Mary Jordan, an award-winning filmmaker, had been working on a documentary on the Hamer tribe in a remote region of Ethiopia for three months in 2007. She had witnessed their struggles for water \u2014 seen young girls make long, backbreaking treks to haul fresh water to their villages; heard stories of their being raped en route. Now, ironically, the struggle had become personal: Jordan had a waterborne disease and was &amp;quot;at the mercy of a place with no hospital, no running water\u2026I was afraid I would die,&amp;quot; she says. But an Ethiopian girl helped load Jordan into a wheelbarrow, roll her to her SUV, get her medicine and nurse her back to health. At the end of the ordeal, the girl wouldn&amp;#039;t accept any thanks; instead, she asked Jordan to help make the world understand the precariousness of the water supply. One afternoon a year and a half later, intent on fulfilling her promise, Jordan noticed one of New York City&amp;#039;s iconic wooden water towers perched atop a building and had an epiphany. They&amp;#039;re like these little temples that hold water, she thought. Suddenly, a water tower seemed like something much more \u2014 a blank canvas. In that moment, the Water Tank Project was born (Hearst Magazines, GH&amp;#039;s parent company, is a sponsor). Jordan asked dozens of artists, including Jeff Koons, Ed Ruscha and Maya Lin, to design graphic wraps for water tanks all around the city; they&amp;#039;re set to be unveiled starting in June. These artful tanks are intended to inspire and educate people on the importance of clean, accessible water. The more Jordan has learned, the more sensitive she&amp;#039;s become to her own behavior. &amp;quot;I thought, Taking shorter showers, not drinking out of plastic bottles \u2014 that&amp;#039;s really going to affect me,&amp;quot; she says. &amp;quot;But it hasn&amp;#039;t. If you ask people to promise to do one thing, and millions do it \u2014 that one thing can create a shift.&amp;quot; Rendering by Alejandro Jassan  Want to see these beautiful tanks in person? You can! Enter to win a trip to New York City for two to witness this major transformation to the city&amp;#039;s famous skyline. Enter to win here \u00BB "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.goodhousekeeping.com/life/inspirational-stories/a20075/water-tank-project/>