Tuesday, March 22, 2011 is World Water Day 2011; please join K4Health in recognizing the 18^th year of World Water Day, an annual celebration of the importance of freshwater sustainable management of freshwater resources.  

This year’s focus, “Water for Cities: Responding to the Urban Challenge,” is concerned with clean drinking water in cities around the world.

1 in 2 people in the planet live in a city and 98% of the urbanization occurs in poor or developing countries.

At the rate cities are growing, especially in poor and developing countries, water and waste management just cannot keep up. Infrastructure in many places is not in place to account for the great increase in population.

1 billion people have no choice but to use harmful water.

These numbers are astounding and result in a great number of diarrheal diseases, which kill over 1.8 million people a year.  However, this problem is not without solutions.  The United Nation’s Brochure on World Water Day 2011 proposes “building strong institutions and developing professional capacity that can implement complex public policies such as regulation and the provision of targeted subsidies.”  Other ways to improve access to clean water include disposing of waste more effectively and finding ways to recycle water.

If this topic interests you, please check out K4Health.org’s Peace Corps eToolkit on Water, Sanitation and Hygiene.

If you’re interested in what’s happening near you to celebrate World Water Day 2011, click here.

Rebecca Shore, MPH, is a Communication Specialist at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health’s Center for Communication Programs (CCP) and works on the Knowledge for Health Project, which is funded by USAID and Implemented by CCP, FHI, and Management Sciences for Health.