World Water Day:

Stop the drip

Dilmika Tennakoon

Today is World Water Day. The purpose of an International Water Day is to promote access to safe drinking water and sanitation. World Water Day 2011 focuses on the topics such as the impact of rapid urban population growth, industrialization and uncertainties caused by climate change and conflict and natural disasters on urban water systems.

All living beings depend on water to sustain themselves. We are literally ‘water creatures’, made up of water. Water makes up 60 percent of our body, 70 percent of our brain and 80 percent of our blood. Though you can survive without food for a month, the body cannot survive one week without water; it gets dehydrate.

Water which has existed millions of years ago on earth still exists today. Water covers most of our planet. But only three percent is fresh water. Most of that is ice. Less than one percent of water is accessible for the use of man and animal. In addition less than 0.007 percent of all Earth’s water is available for drinking purposes.

Studies show that today millions of people in the world do not have access to safe drinking water and 880 million lack basic water supply. The number that live without proper toilet facilities amount to 2.5 billion. According to reports one in five people do not have access to safe drinking water. UN reveals that a child dies from a water related disease every 15 seconds and nearly four million people die from water related diseases every year.

Millions of women and children in Africa and Asia walk several miles a day to collect water. While these people are suffering without a drop of clean water to drink, we use gallons of clean water just to flush toilets, to wash clothes and to water luscious extensive gardens. Not only do we tend to brush our teeth with the water running, we take hour long showers. While the average person in Europe uses 135 litres of water a day, the average person in the developing world uses 10 to 15 litres of water.

We are going to run out of water before we run out of oil if we do not maintain a sound method of water usage. We must use less water and save more future generations. Make it a point on today – World Water Day to put a stop to water wastage. Repair that leak in the plumbing that you have always been meaning to but never had the time, turn off a tap when not needed, use water sparingly with respect.