World Water Day March 22 1997
ater is vital for sustaining life on earth. It is crucial
for economic and social development, including energy production, agriculture
and domestic and industrial water supplies. Water is a basic requirement
for all life, yet water resources are facing more and more demands from
users - and competition for this increasingly scarce resource. In 1992,
the UN General Assembly designated March 22nd of each year as the World
Day for Water.
Of all the water on earth, 97.5 percent is
salt water, found primarily in the oceans. The remaining 2.5 percent is
freshwater, almost all of which is stored in the ice caps of Antarctica
and Greenland, and as fossil groundwater. The most accessible freshwater
resources are in lakes, reservoirs, rivers and streams. These resources
amount to only 0.26 percent of the total amount of freshwater in storage,
or 0.007 percent of all water on earth that is renewable and available for
use on a sustainable basis.
Growing tensions over water resources are becoming
a potentially explosive source of conflict from the community level up to
interstate politics. Many predict that wars of the next century will be
over water, not oil or politics.
Much has been said about our shrinking supply
of freshwater. In reality, the world's potential supply of freshwater has
not decreased, but the pollution to which it is being subjected and the
demands which are placed on this supply have indeed increased, complicated
by irregular rainfall patterns. Water pollution is responsible for the death
of some 25 million people each year, especially in developing countries.
Half of the world's diseases are transmitted by or through water. It is
estimated that 20 percent of the world's population lacks safe drinking
water and 50 percent lacks access to adequate sanitation.
Between 1900 and 1995, world water use has
increased by a factor of six more than double the rate of population
growth during the same period. The world population is projected to increase
from the current 5.7 billion to 8.3 billion in 2025. The result is already
evident in the competition for water for agricultural, domestic and industrial
purposes. Some estimates suggest that, at the turn of the century, the amount
of water available to each person in Africa will be one-quarter of that
in 1950; in Asia and South America, it will be about one-third of the 1950
figure. This situation is aggravated by the occurrence of floods and droughts.
To compound the issue, the longer-term threat of global warming is expected
to impact significantly on regional water resources, with increases in floods
in some areas and droughts in others.
Efforts to mobilize support for the World Water
Day require focusing public attention on the emerging global water crisis
as the 21st century approaches.
La Jolla Convocation
(con·vo·ca·tion: an assembly called together to confer)
Saturday, March 22
10am - 1pm
Auditorium of the School of Public Relations and Pacific Studies
University of California, San Diego (UCSD)
(park in lot #308 off Salk Road)
hat we do on the land ends up on the beach. What are
the problems? What are the risks? What are the causes? Is there a cure?
How long will it take? How much will it cost? Without sound science combined
with public pressure to act, the problems will persist as they have for
the last decade. Find out what's being done, what can be done and what needs
your help. This gathering can be a turning point in identifying and solving
coastal pollution problems. For more information, call Kim Baker 454-1444.
