How will you celebrate World Water Day this year?

Every year on March 22, we celebrate World Water Day and remember those who still do not have access to safe drinking water. Sponsored by the United Nations, World Water Day is an internationally recognized occasion to focus attention on the importance of freshwater and advocating for the sustainable management of freshwater resources. On World Water Day, people everywhere show that they care and that they have the power to make a difference. They get inspired by information and use it to take action and change things.

Each year, World Water Day focuses on specific issues relative to accessing water. This year the theme is “Water and Jobs” and it will highlight the power that water and jobs have to transform people’s lives.

Better water, better jobs:

Today, half of the world’s workers – 1.5 billion people – work in water-related sectors. But today, millions of people who work in water are often not recognized or even protected by basic labor rights. This needs to change!

The theme in 2016 – water and jobs -show how enough quantity and quality of water can change workers’ lives and livelihoods – and even transform societies and economies.

Some 650 million people, or 1 in 10 of the world’s population, do not have access to safe water, putting them at risk of infectious diseases and premature death.

The U.N. says access to safe drinking water and adequate sanitation services is vital to human health. The WHO estimates that every $1 invested in improving water supply and sanitation services yields gains of $3 to $34, depending on the type of intervention.