Wheels for Wells cyclists complete 1,000-km ride through Rockies without tap or bottled water

A Calgarian in a group that cycled from Vancouver to Calgary without any bottled or tap water to raise funds for wells in Africa says it opened her eyes to just how much fresh drinking water is available in the Canadian landscape.

Sarah Fillier was with three others on the five-day trip for Wheels for Wells, a group that workswith World Vision to build wells inKenya, Mauritania, Somalia and Sudan.

While cycling, thegroup made stops along their five-day journey to collect water from natural sources like springs and lakes.

"It's unbelievable how much water we have,"Filliersaid. "The vast amount of just fresh water sources and we don't even need to filter it here. We can just drink it out of the ground and it makes me feel very grateful."

The group did drink tap water at their hotels in the evening.

• Cyclists riding from Calgary to Vancouver to only drink water from streams, springs and rivers

The goal of the 1,000-kilometre trip was to raise awareness about the millions of people around the world who do not have access to clean drinking water.

"It's not an infinite thing that's everywhere that we can just crank a tap on whenever we stop in at a gas station," said cyclist David Custer.

"You know, it's not there for us. So that puts you in the mindset of actually thinking about where water comes from."

In the past three years, Wheels for Wellshas raised over$100,000 and brought clean water to more than 50,000 people. This is the fourth year of the ride.

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