World Water Day: March 22

How will you celebrate World Water Day on March 22nd?

We celebrate World Water Day to raise global awareness about water management, successful water initiatives, and how we can all work together to create and maintain sustainable water resources.

 Here are some simple ways you can celebrate World Water Day:

• Play the El Porvenir World Water Day trivia game with your friends and family (download the questions and answers below).
• 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 Facebook page and share our status--we will be posting all that week.
• Set up a fundraising 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 here to get started on your page. Email info@elporvenir.org if we can help in any way.
• Organize a 1k/5k run/walk with featured speakers and prizers. You and your community can hold a timed event as a fundraiser for El Porvenir or for a specific water project. A great idea for the whole community is a 1k walk while carrying a bucket of water to stimulate what people without access to clean water have to do every day.
• Set up a table in your community center (church, recreational center, mall, etc.). Create a spin wheel with water facts and prizes or hold a scavenger hunt to find hidden answers to questions about water. You can use the questions and answers from our trivia game for either the wheel or scavenger hunt.
• 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 El Porvenir.

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 El Porvenir means more clean water for Nicaraguans. We have helped 120,000 people live with clean water and improved sanitation, but many more still need help.

Take a look at these global statistics:

• 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)

• 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)

• The integrated approach of providing water, sanitation and hygiene reduces the number of deaths caused by diarrheal diseases by an average of 65%. (WHO)

• For every $1 invested in water and sanitation, $8 is returned. (UNDP)

• At any one time, half of the developing world’s hospital beds are occupied by patients suffering from diarrhea. (UNDP)

• 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))

• 443 million school days are lost each year due to water-related diseases.