Scotch Plains man hikes cross-country for clean water

SCOTCH PLAINS - After walking more than 3,000 miles across the country, James Leitner returned to his home in Central Jersey on Thursday.

Leitner's journey, which took him from New Jersey to San Francisco, was part of the 24-year-old's effort to raise money and awareness for clean water in Tanzania. 

On average, he walked more than 40 miles per day for 143 days until he reached his West Coast destination Oct. 6 — all while lugging 10 gallons of water weighing about 80 pounds. 

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Leitner said the coast-to-coast trip was chosen specifically to symbolize the total distance that a Tanzanian walks in a year to get water. 

"This trip took me 143 days," he said. "That means someone in Tanzania spends 143 days out of the year just getting water instead of going to school, finding work opportunities in their communities, and things like that."

He said that the amount of time spent gathering water in Tanzania, which is on the east coast of Africa, "doesn't even include the fact that their water is not cleaned and they have to spend the time cleaning it and if someone gets sick it's even worse."  

The 10 gallons of water Leitner pulled behind him on his journey represents the average amount of water a small family in Tanzania would use for their typical needs, such as cooking, drinking and bathing.

So far, Leitner's trip has raised more than $15,000 to increase the availability of clean water in Tanzania, but the fundraiser is ongoing.

The money Leitner is raising will be used to repair wells in Tanzania and educate groups of people in the county on how to maintain the water systems. The money raised will go through the nonprofit Philadelphia Serengeti Alliance. 

Leitner's journey was documented on his website, missioncleanwater.com. People can go to the site to learn more about his efforts and donate to his cause. 

As a result of his mission, Leitner was honored by United Parcel Service. Through the company's "Delivered Wishes" campaign, UPS will name a rain-water collection system at a school in Kenya in his honor. 

"They're sending me to Kenya for about a week or so," he said. "I'm still blown away." 

In 2014, Leitner traveled to Tanzania with the Philadelphia Serengeti Alliance and stayed in the country for over a month to see how communities were maintaining their well systems.

However, his interest in raising awareness for Tanzania's water began before his trip.

"When I was a junior in high school in Scotch Plains, I found out that people didn't have clean drinking water, which I never even knew was a thing," he said. "It really blew me away from there and I started fundraising for just various nonprofits."

While he was in college as an environmental science major at the University of Delaware, Leitner had a burning desire to come up with an original fundraising project.

Over the course of his coast-to-coast trip intended to help a foreign country, Leitner has seen and learned a lot about his own country.

"You really learn that regardless of where you'e from or what you believe, people are really here for humanity," he said. "Everyone would always offer to help me out and lend a hand."

People offered him water and even a spare bedroom, at times. Other times, Leitner would stay at campgrounds or get permission to set up camp on a church's lawn.

He designed his trip to San Francisco so that he could learn more about water in the United States. Toward the beginning of his trip, his path veered northwest so he could go through Michigan to learn about Flint's lead-in-drinking-water issues.

As his trip came to an end and he arrived on the West Coast, the wildfires in California were just starting to pick up.

"The air quality right now is probably the worst I've seen in the past few days," he said of the fires. Since Monday, he has awaken "and just smelled the smell of fire."

Down the road, Leitner plans to focus on the UPS project and securing a nonprofit status for his organization, Mission Clean Water. Later, he wants to find a full-time job developing water wells internationally.

"In Scotch Plains itself and New Jersey, we have plentiful water wherever you go," he said. "You really don't think about how important water is until it's gone and you can't access it."

Staff Writer Nick Muscavage: 908-243-6615; ngmuscavage@gannettnj.com