World Water Day 2012: Water and Food Security

March 22 marks the return of the International World Water Day, a global celebration encouraged by the United Nations in order to draw attention to the importance of sustainable management of fresh water.

This year, the theme of the World Water Day is "Water and Food Security" - a reminder that every day, we use so much water to produce enough food for our daily requirements that we have to manage it wisely.

Many people are not aware of the fact that the whole production process of food needs a massive amount of water, often more than expected. Even though water is reusable, it is still a limited resource.

According to a new report published in the online journal PLoS ONE, 92 percent of humanity’s total water footprint is for agriculture, and irrigated agriculture depletes more water than cities and industries.

The Netherlands will celebrate the World Water Day in Wageningen, with events that centre on the question "How can we bring the worlds of water and food closer together?"

Apart from that, Stichting Aquarius will also participate in this annual celebration by organising its famous river cleaning day along the Oude Ijssel river.

Since 2009, they have been active in cleaning up several rivers in the Netherlands, including Amstel river during the World Water Day 2011. Residents, students, scientists, journalists, politicians, entrepreneurs, people who are living and working around the Oude Ijssel River will join the cleaning.

Furthermore, the upcoming swimming-events by Stichting Aquarius are also not to be missed:
› Amsterdam swim
› Royal Amstel swim
› Rotterdam swim