Debra Shore, Commissioner of the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District, provides some special insight into the importance of water in honor of World Water Day tomorrow. Take a look at what she has to say:
March 22 is World Water Day, an initiative begun 15 years ago at the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development held in Rio de Janeiro. Water is an essential ingredient of life on Earth, yet it is a finite resource. Currently more than 1 billion people live each day without access to safe drinking water and an estimated 2.6 billion people live without access to proper sanitation facilities.
According to UN reports, more than 85 percent of the global burden of disease is attributable to unsafe water supply, lack of sanitation and hygiene and is mostly concentrated on children in developing countries. Every day, this contributes to the deaths of 5,000 children from largely preventable causes, including diarrheal diseases and parasites.
Sobering facts.
Fortunately, we have an excellent water supply and sanitation system in the Chicago metropolitan region.
But since tomorrow is World Water Day, let's conduct a thought experiment: Imagine a day without water. Brush your teeth in the morning with toothpaste and saliva (No rinsing!). No shower, no bath, no washing your face. No flushing the toilet. No coffee, no tea. No pop, no milk, no juice – and why? The largest ingredient in all these is…you guessed it! Water.
No chats by the water cooler. No shampoo at the gym. No rocks for your Scotch, no splash in the pool. You get my drift?
