Today marks the end of World Water Week. For the last few days world leaders on water development met in Stockholm, Sweden. Engineers, policy-makers, and business professionals also voted on the best way to conserve water. Out of ten topics ranging from desalination to waterless toilets, going vegan was voted as the best way to conserve water.
FACT: Vegans consume nearly 600 gallons less water than a person on an average diet. Read more: http://t.co/du2JHkZwok#WorldWaterWeek
— Global Citizen (@GlblCtzn) August 25, 2015Called it? But really, there’s a lot to learn from World Water Week and here at Global Citizen we covered a range of topics to help you learn more about the importance of clean water.
Here’s the highlights.
We started off with a beautiful poem about water from girls in Kenya thanks to . Girls in rural areas of developing countries that do not have nearby access to clean water spend hours walking to wells, or rivers to collect water and then carry it back home. This time spent collecting water is time that girls should be spending in school to get an education. From this poem we learned that access to clean water directly helps girls and children get an education.
Clean water is a beautiful thing, but water is a powerful destructive force as well. We explored what happens when “water is the enemy.”
We found out that desalination is not the answer to world water shortages. It’s a complex issue but because of cost and energy inefficiency it is better used as a last resort. Because of climate change and an increase in severe droughts however, the UN predicts that reliance on desalination will increase by 13 percent.
Did you know you can use a sari to filter water or that there’s a functioning toilet that can dispose waste with zero water?
Around the world countries are creating innovative ways to fight water shortages. Kenya is taking on Roman tactics by building aquaducts, and Hans taught us what the heck a suqakollo is.
The made a powerful video that demonstrates the impact your voice has when you call and ask governments to finance water and sanitation.
World Water Week shined a spotlight on the need for clean water and access to sanitation but the fight is not over and the attention needs to stay. 750 million people worldwide still do not have access to clean water. This week provided insight into what works (going vegan) and what still needs work (desalination) among other tactics to solve water shortages and provide access to clean potable water for all. Now, global citizens can use this information and come together to help make clean water a reality for everyone on the planet.
TAKE ACTION NOW and write an email to world leaders in Sweden to put clean water, sanitation and hygiene in the hands of people all around the world.