by David Nuttle

Created on: March 10, 2009   Last Updated: March 20, 2009

The topic for World Water Day 2009 is transboundry waters as it relates to various nations sharing fresh water supplies that cross national boundaries. Activities for that day will be focused on providing/sharing information, and gaining public support, for the creation of ideas/programs for the improved common use of such waters, while finding ways to improve water management, and create more opportunities from shared use of available water supplies.

Annual World Water Day, on 22 March, unless changed for religious holidays, was first started at a special 1992 United Nations (UN) conference on the environment and development, in Rio de Janeiro. The World Health Organization (WHO) provides an advocacy guide, and the UN publishes a related booklet entitled "Water for Life." UNICEF's Innocenti Research Centre (IRC) operates an International Water & Sanitation Centre providing information related to improving the availability of potable water. Under the UN International Decade for Action Guide (2005 - 2015) there is a section entitled "Celebrating Water for Life." The UN website for World Water Day is found at: www.unwater.org/worldwaterday/flashindex.html.

Water has become a global issue because only 2.5 percent of water is fresh, and over half of that is fozen in glaciers and polar ice caps. The combination of global warming, desertification, deforestation, extensive pollution, and increased irrigation/ crop demands, along with growing populations, are creating water stress (shortages) in many areas of the world. According to UN data, some 2.9 billion people generally lack potable (clean) drinking water, and nearly 5,000 children die each day as a result of drinking water containing viruses, bacterium, parasites, and pollutants harmful to health. Lack of sanitation is the primary cause of water contamination causing these deaths.

As noted above, the 2009 theme for World Water Day is transboundry waters. This water is found in the steams, rivers, lakes, and aquifers that cross national boundries of 145 nations, and cover nearly half of the Earth's land surface. In the last 60 years, there have been more than 200 water agreements and 37 conflicts related to use of these waters. On World Water Day, for 2009, nations are being encouraged to meet with neighboring nations who they share waters with, to improve and expand plans/ agreements for protection, conservation, and equitable sharing of these waters and surrounding areas where runoff contibutes to increasing water supplies. Pollution prevention, rainwater harvesting and storage, fencing of waterways, management of supplies, access rights, and sharing of water will part of the nation-to-nation negotiations that will form some of the events for this coming World Water Day, for 2009.

Shortages of fresh water are already creating a number of new crises situations, worldwide. There are no easy solutions because desalination of sea water is still far too expensive to meet most water needs. Global warming has changed rainfall patterns in some areas, so that some local conflicts are already being caused by inadequate water supplies. It is important for nations, and their leaders, to anticipate possible conflicts over water shortages, so that solutions may be found before any water-related conflict starts.

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