Celebrate World Water Day!

March 22nd is World Water Day!  World Water Day has been celebrated on March 22nd since 1993.  It was established by the UN Conference on Environment and Development.  World Water Day's purpose is to "focus attention on the importance of freshwater and advocate for the sustainable management of freshwater resources" (UN, 2013).  The theme of this year's World Water Day is cooperation, since 2013 has been designated as the International Year of Water Cooperation.

Here are a few water facts from the UN:

• 783 million people do not have access to clean water and almost 2.5 billion do not have access to adequate sanitation.
• 6 to 8 million people die annually from the consequences of disasters and water-related diseases.
• Water availability is expected to decrease in many regions. Yet future global agricultural water consumption alone is estimated to increase by ~19% by 2050, and will be even greater in the absence of any technological progress or policy intervention.

 

So what can you do? Don't pollute water and encourage others to keep water clean too.  You can also conserve water by checking your home plumbing for leaks, using a rain barrel, taking shorter showers, etc.  Check out a post we did here for more water conservation ideas.  If we all work together to conserve water now, we could have fewer water cooperation issues down the road.

-Written by Jillian Schubert Edwards