World Water Day

This year's observance of World Water Day, which took place on March 22, generated a renewed focus on the problems of water scarcity. The theme of this year's observance, "Clean Water for a Healthy Planet," emphasized the critical role that safe water plays in reducing mortality and improving health outcomes in developing countries. With many developing countries already suffering from severe water shortages, population pressures will exacerbate efforts aimed at addressing the problem.

The United Nations Environment Programme reported that "Urban populations are projected to nearly double in 40 years, from current 3.4 billion to over six billion people - but already most cities lack adequate wastewater management due to aging, absent or inadequate sewage infrastructure."  The UNEP report (Sick Water?) estimates that two million tons of waste is being discharged daily into rivers, lakes and seas, spreading disease and damaging major ecosystems.

http://www.unep.org/Documents.Multilingual/Default.asp?DocumentID=617&ArticleID=6504&l=en&t=long

This month's issue of National Geographic [Water:  Our Thirsty World] is devoted to the water crisis, and provides a compelling look at the human tragedy behind the numbers. It is available to download for free until April 2, 2010.