‘Walk for Water’ this World Water Day!
20 March 2019 11:44
Most of us take water for granted, but we would be lost without it – nothing to drink, nothing to wash in, nothing to flush the toilet with! Yet for all too many people in the world today, that existence is very real – our planet may be covered in water, but only around 1% is drinkable, and many countries simply do not have the means to provide required amounts of clean, safe water.
WaterAid, the international charity seeking to provide safe and reliable sources of drinking water right across the world, is marking World Water Day on 22 March by urging supporters to ‘March for Water”, and NI Water is only too happy to support this initiative.
NI Water’s education team has been on the road visiting schools and helping to get this message across, as well as arranging some simple playground walks to raise awareness. Rossmar School in Limavady helped get things off to a great start by pledging to “walk for water”.
Anna Killen, NI Water’s Outreach & Education Officer said: ‘‘WaterAid has done some great work over the years in raising awareness of the lack of water in some of the world’s poorest communities, and on World Water Day this year, we want to encourage people to raise awareness of the fact that many people don’t have the safe, clean water we in Northern Ireland take for granted.
‘‘WaterAid’s vision is of a world where everyone has access to safe water, decent sanitation and good hygiene.
“Currently, 2.3 billion people in the world do not have a decent toilet of their own, that’s 1 in 3 of the world’s population. 844 million people in the world do not have clean water close to home. That’s roughly 1 in 9 of the world’s population.
“These are shocking figures, and we’re determined to do everything we can to help by marching for water on 22 March to raise awareness of this.”
‘‘It’s very easy to ‘March for Water’ for WaterAid – schools can arrange a simple playground walk any day in March or anyone can pick up their walking shoes and set off! For further information log on to: https://www.wateraid.org/uk/get-involved/events/march-for-water and pledge to walk an extra 2km, 4km or 8km every day in March and pay £1 for your blue laces. Simple!
If you are part of a community group and would like to arrange a talk on the work of WaterAid, you can get further information by logging on to https://www.wateraid.org/uk/get-involved/teaching/speaker-network
Ends.
All media queries to the NI Water Press Office on 028 9035 4757 or via email to press.office@niwater.com
Notes to Editors:
To find out more about the work of WaterAid, please visit www.wateraid.org