You probably have no idea how much water you need, how much water you want or how much water you take for granted.  Check out this ongoing event aimed to enlighten folks around the world to the bounty that fresh water provides, and the grave issues that exist when there isn’t enough. The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nation hosts the 9th annual World Water Day on March 22, 2012. The focus is food and water security — so we don’t run out of what’s needed to support human life (for everyone) on this planet.

According to the World Water Day team:

There are 7 billion people to feed on the planet today and another 2 billion are expected to join by 2050. Statistics say that each of us drinks from 2 to 4 litres of water every day, however most of the water we ‘drink’ is embedded in the food we eat: producing 1 kilo of beef for example consumes 15,000 litres of water while 1 kilo of wheat ’drinks up’ 1,500 litres.

When a billion people in the world already live in chronic hunger and water resources are under pressure we cannot pretend the problem is ‘elsewhere’. Coping with population growth and ensuring access to nutritious food to everyone call for a series of actions we can all help with:

consume less water-intensive products;

reduce the scandalous food wastage: 30% of the food produced worldwide is never eaten and the water used to produce it is definitively lost!

produce more food, of better quality, with

less water;

follow a healthier diet.

At all steps of the supply chain, from producers to consumers, actions can be taken to save water and ensure food for all.

And you? Do you know how much water you actually consume every day? How can you change your diet and reduce your water footprint? Join the World Water Day 2012 campaign “Water and Food Security” and find out more!

You can also join in on Facebook.