A pity it is evening, yet
I do love the water of this spring
seeing how clear it is, how clean;
rays of sunset gleam on it,
lighting up its ripples, making it
one with those who travel
the roads; I turn and face
the moon; sing it a song, then
listen to the sound of the wind
amongst the pines.

~ Li Po

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Do you know how much water you actually consume every day?

Few of us have any idea how much water we need—how much water we want, or how much water we take for granted.

World Water Day is 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.

Today The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nation hosts the 9th annual World Water Day. 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.

Today is full of events relating to the official ceremony in Rome (check out the great minds and interesting discussions, wow). There’s also around-the-world events, so you might just be able to get involved. Also cool is their Flickr group with photos of the good work being done all over our Earth.

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 liters 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 liters of water while 1 kilo of wheat ’drinks up’ 1,500 liters.

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!

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Editor: Kate Bartolotta