MESA, Ariz. — An annual water drive in Mesa is in full swing as temperatures remain sweltering outside. The drive is critical, as summer 2021's heat killed a record 338 people in Maricopa County. So far in 2022, there have been at least six confirmed heat-related deaths in Maricopa County.
This year's Bottles for Bill campaign goal is to collect $10,000 for water bottles in the Valley. The effort is a part of the City of Mesa's yearly hydration campaign.
The water donations are then shared with the United Food Bank and given out to different agencies all over the great Phoenix-area. The goal is to get the water in the hands of the homeless, seniors, families and more who are thirsty as temperatures turn dangerous.
For Amanda Ferguson, the water drive has a special meaning, surrounded around a powerful sibling bond with her older brother, Bill. She looked up to him while she was growing up.
“When he was in the Army, he got to travel the world," Ferguson said. "He actually got to do two tours in Iraq.”
She taps into that same sibling bond, that's now using water bottles to save lives in the Valley. Her efforts, gained momentum year after year.
“So in 2019, we started at five pallets of just over 9,000 bottles," Ferguson said. "And last year, we donated two semi-trucks worth which is 81,000 bottles of water.”
Support has poured in for Ferguson's annual water bottle drive. She now partners with the City of Mesa hydration campaign and United Food Bank.
“When I saw the picture I thought, at first I had planned three United Food Bank employees to go get the water," the United Food Bank's Melissa Forrester said. "When I saw the picture I was like no, we’re going to plan B it." City of Mesa has a fire connectors. So that group met us out at her home first thing in the morning. We unloaded that thing. It was so awesome to see all of this water.”
Together, the agencies give out thousands of bottles of water to people all over the Valley, when temperatures soar.
“It’s super critical we have the bottles of water," Forrester said. "This year our goal is 600,000 bottles of water because that’s what the need demands here in Arizona.”
Ferguson's brother, Bill, is her 'why' for collecting all of the water, nearly 10-years after his untimely death at just 31-years-old.
“I unfortunately lost my brother bill to heat exhaustion in 2013," Ferguson said. "He was dirt biking with some friends. Unfortunately, it was 115 degrees that day and he quickly found himself unsafe and passed away.”
She is now at the age her brother was when he passed. This campaign was never her dream.
“I never wanted to lose my brother," she said. "It was a very sad thing for my family. But I am happy that so much good has come from it.”
Good, pouring into the lives of the thirsty, as Amanda soaks in her brother's memory every year.
Mesa's annual hydration campaign runs through the end of September, where donations are accepted.
The City of Mesa's fire department said one of the best ways to see how much water to drink is to assess your own urine. A darker color means there's a higher concentration of urine in your kidneys and you should drink more water to hydrate.
Arizona State University researchers are also working to find out why staying hydrated is so important, especially when spending time hiking outside in the summer. Their goal is to make better recommendations about when it's safe to hike during the summer, and when people should stay off of the trails.
ASU said a person can sweat out up to 60 ounces of water hiking per hour in 105 degree heat, or about four percent for a 150 pound man. Once a person is in that water-loss zone, there can be reduced muscle strength, lowered fine motor skills and heat cramps.
To gain more insight here in one study, ASU researcher, Floris Wardenaar, showed hikers a three minute hydration video at Piestewa Peak. The video made small recommendations about drinking water on the trail.
Wardenaar and his team found showing a hydration video to hikers on a trail pre-hike, did result in people taking more water with them, but it did not result in more people drinking that water. He said these kinds of educational videos can result in people drinking more water, but need to be shown more than just once to make a difference.
“What we tried to do is improve hiker safety while at the same time we try to improve hiker experience and performance," Wardenaar said. "If people feel better then they can enjoy more about what they do.”
Wardenaar hopes to use the data to create more hydration videos to show hikers year-round and increase awareness about drinking water outside.
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