March 22 is World Water Day – a day when we should take time to reflect: 1 billion people don’t have access to enough clean water; as many people die every month from drinking contaminated water as did the Indian Ocean tsunami

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Still, the plight of these people gets hardly the attention that a natural disaster would.

Water is a common thing that Westerners take for granted, but a Sudanese spends an average of one-third of his day fetching the daily ration of water.

A European uses about 135 liters of water per day, while a resident of a developing country typically only has 10 liters of water available per day.

In Asia and Africa, women were traditionally responsible for collecting water for their families.

They have to walk an average of 6 kilometers to reach a nearby river.

If they can't carry enough water home alone, children help - they spend their time fetching water instead of going to school.

Still, water is often not enough, leading to frequent diarrhea and malaria.

In the past decade, more children have died from diarrhea than have been killed in all armed conflicts since World War II combined.

For example, a family washes their hands in the same basin due to lack of water.

The eldest male starts washing, and by the time it is the youngest child's turn, the washed hands are dirtier than before.

And the child eats with these dirty hands.

Before the Red Cross launched a water supply project, the sanitation situation in the Zambian town of Macha was dire: malaria and diarrhea were particularly prevalent among children.

Because public health facilities are inadequate, local schools have to close.

Many villagers defecate in the bushes because there are not enough toilets.

Especially during the rainy season, when sewage is washed out by rivers, there is a risk of plague.

For the women in the village, they can only get 10 to 20 liters of water for their families every day. Life is really sad.

The river is far from home, and the little water they can carry back every day is never enough.

The Red Cross has launched a large-scale assistance project: digging wells near the houses, repairing and building new toilets, and making villagers understand the importance of hygiene habits for health.

Schools can reopen.

School children even wore clean uniforms.

Volunteers from the Zambian Red Cross Society contribute to this project, and health is the engine that drives a good economy.

In order to alleviate people's suffering and support the development of third world countries, the subject of water must receive more attention from governmental and non-governmental organizations.

Intending to use its experience in providing clean water and creating a hygienic environment, the International Federation of Red Cross Societies adopted a 10-year plan on 24 February 2005 to reduce the number of people without access to clean water by 2015.

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The theme of World Water Day on March 22, 2005 is "Source of Life".

Water, as the liquid of life, nourishes humans and thousands of creatures in the world.

But in the 21st century, due to population growth, irrational use, pollution and global warming, the earth's life liquid has shown a yellow card to mankind.

Food is the most important thing for people, and food production cannot be separated from sufficient water sources.

An FAO study of 93 developing countries shows that many countries are using water faster than it can be regenerated, leading to increasing water scarcity.

Resource shortages bring harm to food security and human survival.

Water is vital to human health, and improved health is an important prerequisite for economic growth.

World Bank official Claudia Sadov pointed out: "Water issues are a priority issue that a country needs to solve in order to achieve economic growth." However, the relevant data provided by the United Nations are not optimistic: there are 1.1 billion people in the world

Without access to clean water, about 6,000 children die every day from diseases caused by unsanitary water and substandard sanitation and cleaning conditions, which is equivalent to 20 large passenger planes crashing every day.

In developing countries, unsanitary water and unclean environment have become the main reasons for people's illness.

A spokesman for UNICEF said: "Half of the world's schools lack the most basic sanitation conditions such as safe drinking water and clean toilets." Water resources are not only an environmental and economic issue, but also a social and political issue.

The number of "environmental refugees" is increasing around the world as the life fluid is depleted.

Since the 1990s, three-quarters of the world's farmers and one-fifth of the urban population have not had enough fresh water throughout the year. The number of people forced to leave their homes because of water has exceeded the number of refugees fleeing war.

Half of the world's population lives in countries that share rivers and lakes with neighboring countries, and tensions are already emerging in some areas due to insufficient water supplies and uneven distribution.

The dispute over water resources has become a potential source of regional or global conflicts and a trigger for the outbreak of war.

Solving the problem of water scarcity is a global movement.

Crucial tasks such as finding new water sources, redistributing water resources, raising people's awareness of water conservation, developing new recycling technologies, and strengthening international cooperation all require the joint participation of all mankind.

The protection of water resources and the entire environmental protection work are inseparable.

The World Conservation Fund has warned that global warming is causing Himalayan glaciers to retreat rapidly, putting hundreds of millions of people in China, India and Nepal who rely on meltwater from glaciers at risk of water shortages.

What is gratifying is that the world has reached a consensus on life-saving liquids. The United Nations Development Program, the International Water Association, the Beijing Clean Water Alliance and other organizations issued the Clean Water Declaration in Beijing: "Cherish water resources and make them cleaner."

. ” Time waits not for the liquid that will save the life of the earth.