How will you celebrate World Water Day (March 22nd)?
This year's World Water Day theme is Water and Food Security, aimed to create awareness of how much water we actually consume, not only through the water we drink, but the water that is needed to produce the foods we eat.
Did you know that 200 liters of water is needed to produce 1 glass of milk and 135 liters of water for 1 egg?
Here are some simple ways you can celebrate World Water Day:
- On World Water Day, donate your facebook or twitter status to present one fact or story about the global water crisis. You can also go to El Porvenir's fan page and share our status--we will be posting all that week.
- Set up a fund raising page for El Porvenir through our online donation site, GivingFirst. It takes about 15 minutes to do and is an easy way to invite your friends to help you reach a donation goal. Click on the following link and scroll to the bottom where it says "Fundraising pages" for instructions on how to create your page. https://givingfirst.org/index.php?section=content&action=dynamic&cmsID=9 Email info@elporvenir.org if we can help in any way.
- Invite friends over to watch the movie Flow and ask for donations for EP. You can web stream the movie for $3.99 at http://www.oscilloscope.net/films/film/2/FLOW
- Fill up a glass with tap water and give thanks for the clean water that pours out.
- Make a water bank by cutting a slit in a water bottle, place it on your desk at work during World Water week. Encourage co-workers to help you fill up the bank with change to donate to EP.
World Water Day is a great time to appreciate the clean water we have and help others to have the same. Everyone deserves clean water and your support of EP means more clean water for Nicaraguans. We have helped 116,000 people live with clean water and improved sanitation, but many more still need help.
Take a look at these global statistics:
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884 million people in the world do not have access to safe water. This is roughly one in eight of the world's population. (WHO/UNICEF)
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1.4 million children die every year as a result of diseases caused by unclean water and poor sanitation. This amounts to around 4,000 deaths a day or one every 20 seconds. (WHO)
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The integrated approach of providing water, sanitation and hygiene reduces the number of deaths caused by diarrheal diseases by an average of 65%. (WHO)
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For every $1 invested in water and sanitation, $8 is returned. (UNDP)
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At any one time, half of the developing world’s hospital beds are occupied by patients suffering from diarrhea. (UNDP)
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The average North American uses 400 liters of water every day; the average person in the developing world uses 10 liters of water every day for their drinking, washing and cooking. (Water Supply and Sanitation Collaborative Council (WSSCC))
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443 million school days are lost each year due to water-related diseases.
