The importance of World Water Day

World Water Day

87 percent of the world's population - around 5.9 billion people - have access to clean and safe drinking-water resources, however that means almost one billion people do not.

World Water Day was established to raise awareness of this problem, a problem that kills almost 4500 children every day. What's even more worrying is that so many of the people without access to safe drinking-water reside in Africa, sub-Saharan Africa in particular, home to some of the driest and most water-stressed regions on the planet.

In Mali for example, one of the countries in which international charity WaterAid works to provide safe water, hygiene education and sanitation, it is estimated that just 27 percent of the population have clean water.

"Clean Water for a Healthy World"

In 1992 at the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development in Rio de Janeiro, World Water Day was established in hope that a day of international recognition of the number of people without safe water resources would force national governments and non-governmental organisations into action.

The focus of this year's World Water Day is on raising awareness of water quality under the theme "Clean Water for a Healthy World". The overall goal of the 2010 campaign is to raise the profile of water quality at a political level so that water quality considerations are made alongside those of water quantity.

In San Diego, California in the United States a city-wide 5km 'Walk for Water' was organised, inspired by the average distance millions of women and children across Africa and much of the developing world travel on foot every day in search of water for their families, and even that isn't always clean.

Participants in Sunday's walk carried water jugs to give them a "symbolic and educational experience", with all proceeds going towards the building of a water system in a small village in Tanzania.

"We must act now"

There are also environmental costs to the huge effort undertaken by water companies trying to get water supplies to those who need it, and even from the water these companies sell in the shops of developed countries.

Plastic bottles and caps contain chemicals called phthalates, which are known to disrupt testosterone and other hormones, and can leach into bottled water over time. Although there are regulatory standards limiting phthalates in tap water, there are no legal limits for phthalates in bottled water.

But the environmental issues must come second to the human need for safe water resources.

Clarissa Brocklehurst, UNICEF Chief of the Water, Sanitation and Hygiene says: "With almost 884 million people living without access to safe drinking-water and approximately three times that number lacking basic sanitation we must act now as one global community to ensure water and sanitation for all."

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Daniel Jones

Daniel is a Politics and Philosophy graduate from Cardiff University where he also worked as a section editor on the award winning student newspaper. After university he joined an IT support company where he was a B2B online writer. He loves anything to do with sport and joined GDS in July 2009.

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