Tips to save water

World Water Day 2006: We plan our cities near water; we bathe in water; we play in water; we work with water. Our economies are built on the strength of water transportation - and the products we buy and sell are all partly water, in one way or another. Our daily lives are built on water, and shaped by it. Without the water that surrounds us - the humidity of the air, the roughness of the river's current, the flow from the kitchen tap - our lives would be impossible. In recent decades, water has fallen in our esteem. No longer an element to be revered and protected, it is a consumer product that we have shamefully neglected. Eighty percent of our bodies are formed of water, and two thirds of the planet's surface is covered by water: water is our culture, our life. Read on here on HOW TO GET INVOLVED?

Yes and each and everyone of us can get involved and you can start at home managing our water resources more wisely and even save some money!

Ok so here are a few simple tips how you can save water:

• Have a plumber inspect your installations for leaks

• Don't showers longer then necessary

• Don't fill the bathtub all the way up

• Turn off the water while brushing your teeth

• Use a bucket to wash your car

• Put water in the kitchen sink to wash and rinse dishes

• Run dishwasher and washing machine only when they are full

Now you make think that's only a drop in the bucket what you save there. But consider this: Turning off the water while brushing your teeth can save up to 5 liters a minute! If the entire adult population of England and Wales did likewise, this could save a total of 180 mega liters a day enough to supply nearly 500,000 houses. So yes starting with small things can make a big difference! And now you multiply that to all the other instances where you can save some more water and our resources will last for much longer!

Now here are some statistics from wateraid.org:

• 1.1 billion people in the world do not have access to safe water, this is roughly one sixth of the world's population.

• 2.2 million people in developing countries, most of them children, die every year from diseases associated with lack of access to safe drinking water, inadequate sanitation and poor hygiene.

• At least 90% of drinkable water in the world is underground. This source of water is increasingly threatened with depletion and contamination.

• since 1950 the world population has doubled but water consumption has increased six-fold.

What is clear is that we need to take care of this precious resource called water because without it there is no life. We need besides saving water, that starts at our home, also make sure we don't contaminate it by throwing trash in the rivers and lakes or polluting it in any way. Please take care of this wherever you can because YOU can make a difference!