We Are Water Foundation Warns on World Water Day "We Eat More Water Than We Drink"
LONDON, March 21, 2012 /PRNewswire/ --
March 22 - World Water Day - United Nations
- The United Nations says the proper management of water resources is key to ensuring an adequate supply for the growing demands of the world's population.
- Most of the water we consume is related to food. To produce just one kilo of rice, 2,450 litres of water are required.
- The We Are Water Foundation works to raise awareness of the need to make good use of this resource and create an application for smartphones that calculates the amount of water needed to produce food - its Water Footprint.
March 21, 2012. Every year, World Water Day is held on 22 March, as decreed by the United Nations, and in this 2012 edition, it addresses water and food security. Today, more than 1,000 million people lack a basic water supply and 1.5 million children die each year from diseases caused by contaminated and non-drinkable water.
Xavier Torras, director of the We are Water Foundation, says, "Most water we humans consume is what comes to us through food. Each day, a person can drink about 2 litres of water, but to produce a kilo of rice, 2,450 litres of water are needed, and for a kilo of pork, nearly 6,000 litres. These are two examples of the amount of water needed to produce food. Water is not available in many parts of our planet."
That is why the Foundation wishes to emphasise how important it is to ensure access to this vital resource. To this end, the Foundation has sought the support of Carlos Jimenez Renjifo, Desk Officer in Spain for the United Nations Regional Information Centre (UNRIC), who warns about the need to seek joint solutions to this problem: "Already in 2012, the world's population has reached 7 billion inhabitants and it is estimated that within three decades it may reach around 9 billion. Consequently, the water needs for food production or, in other words, the needs to ensure sustainable food supplies for much of the planet, will be one of the major problems we face in order to meet these growing demands for food."
In order to increase awareness promoted by the United Nations, the We are Water Foundation has launched a campaign with the slogan "We eat more water than we drink", and has created the "We Eat Water" application for smartphones. This application is a collection of kitchen recipes from different international cuisines, and each recipe is specified with its water footprint, which is the sum of all the water needed not only to cook from the recipes, but also all the water that has been used to produce that food.
As an example, to make a simple Chinese "wan tan", no less than 5,804 litres of water are used. The We Eat Water application has a symbolic price of 0.79 euros. The money raised by the Foundation through the application will fund the four aid projects that the foundation is carrying out in the world in 2012, with organisations such as Unicef, the Vicente Ferrer Foundation, Oxfam and Education Without Borders.
About the We Are Water Foundation
The We Are Water Foundation has two main objectives. The first is to raise public and institutional awareness regarding water issues and to promote a new culture regarding water that allows for a fair and sustainable management of global water resources. The second is to implement all kinds of actions to mitigate the negative effects of the lack of adequate water resources. The Foundation's areas of activities include interventions in infrastructure, education, health and research in the most deprived areas of the planet.
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Press Office of We Are Water Foundation
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SOURCE We Are Water Foundation
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