March 22 : World Water Day

World Water Day is observed on March 22 every year since 1993. It is the initiative of United Nations to celebrate clean water and bring attention to those who don’t have enough of it. It is a day to create awareness among the people about the importance of conservation of this valuable  finite resource for the future generations. The theme for 2015 World Water Day is Water and Sustainable Development. 

The World Water Day was formally proposed in Agenda 21 of the 1992 UN Conference on Environment and Development, which was held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. 

Facts

• Nearly 1000 million people lack access to clean water around the world.
• There are 658 million people living without access to water in Africa.
• Diarrhea caused by contaminated drinking water and hand hygiene kills more than 8 lakh people every year all around the world. 
• Nearly 1 out of every 5 deaths under the age of 5 worldwide is due to a water-related disease.