World Water Day 2009
Demand water for all!
Find out more!
Take action!
Sunday, March 22, was World Water Day, and the Eaton Centre in Montréal was the site of a colourful and entertaining rally to make the public aware about the importance of safe drinking water.
Even though it is essential to life and to development, drinking water is still beyond the reach of more than a billion people around the world. And most of those people live in countries of the South.
Many activities were organized to celebrate the event:
Crazy stunts!
With coaching by members of the UTIL troupe (Unité théâtrale d’intervention loufoque), youngsters staged an intriguing sequence of human frescos depicting the water issue – and did they ever catch people’s attention!
Information booth
Volunteer activists from Oxfam-Québec manned a public info kiosk. They collected 670 signatures in support of the For All! campaign, calling for universal access to public services -- water, sanitation, health and education.
Artist at work!
Artist Kamba Sita painted a canvas on-the-spot, illustrating the water issue. Many curious onlookers gathered ‘round to watch him work.
Water calculator
People were invited to calculate their water consumption, and then to use some of our tricks for reducing it.
The Oxfam-Québec committee for the Québec City region also hosted an event for students from Laval University, featuring a theatrical skit performed in collaboration with the Tour de Babel troupe. They gathered 97 signatures for the For All! petition.
- Read Sylvie Frechette's letter (Sylvie is our Ambassador for water)
- Read Nathalie Turcotte's letter (Nathalie Turcotte returned from a 2-year stint in Niger as an Oxfam-Québec volunteer)
- Discover the H2O for All! project, Internet site about water issues, with coverage by two teams of young reporters in Québec and Peru.
- Sign the For All! petition
- Calculate your water consumption and see some tricks for reducing it
- Support access to water in developing countries – make a donation!
More than a billion people – 1 out of 6 – do not have access to safe drinking water. Yet, everyone needs access to a minimum of 20 litres of clean water every day to satisfy basic needs*.
How much is 20 litres of water?
- A little more than a toilet flush (16 litres)
- Very little compared to the average Canadian’s use up: 326 litres of water every day !
What does it mean to have no access to water? It means:
- Walking more than 6 km every day in search of water ;
- Increased risk of diseases such as diarrhoea. 4000 children die of it every day ;
- A direct impact on education: 443 million school days are lost every year because of waterborne diseases.
* According to the United Nations Development Program (UNDP).
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