We Are Water Foundation Warns on World Water Day "We Eat More Water Than We Drink"

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March 21, 2012
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We Are Water Foundation Warns on World Water Day "We Eat More Water Than We Drink"

LONDON, March 21, 2012/PRNewswire/ --

    March 22 - World Water Day - United Nations

   
    - The United Nations says the proper management of water resources is key to
      ensuring an adequate supply for the growing demands of the world's population.
    - Most of the water we consume is related to food. To produce just one kilo of
      rice, 2,450 litres of water are required.
    - The We Are Water Foundation works to raise awareness of the need to make good
      use of this resource and create an application for smartphones that calculates the
      amount of water needed to produce food - its Water Footprint.

    March 21, 2012. Every year, World Water Day is held on 22 March, as decreed by the
United Nations, and in this 2012 edition, it addresses water and food security. Today,
more than 1,000 million people lack a basic water supply and 1.5 million children die each
year from diseases caused by contaminated and non-drinkable water.

    Xavier Torras, director of the We are Water Foundation, says, "Most water we humans
consume is what comes to us through food. Each day, a person can drink about 2 litres of
water, but to produce a kilo of rice, 2,450 litres of water are needed, and for a kilo of
pork, nearly 6,000 litres. These are two examples of the amount of water needed to produce
food. Water is not available in many parts of our planet."

    That is why the Foundation wishes to emphasise how important it is to ensure access to
this vital resource. To this end, the Foundation has sought the support of Carlos Jimenez
Renjifo, Desk Officer in Spain for the United Nations Regional Information Centre (UNRIC),
who warns about the need to seek joint solutions to this problem: "Already in 2012, the
world's population has reached 7 billion inhabitants and it is estimated that within three
decades it may reach around 9 billion. Consequently, the water needs for food production
or, in other words, the needs to ensure sustainable food supplies for much of the planet,
will be one of the major problems we face in order to meet these growing demands for
food."

    In order to increase awareness promoted by the United Nations, the We are Water
Foundation has launched a campaign with the slogan "We eat more water than we drink", and
has created the "We Eat Water" application for smartphones. This application is a
collection of kitchen recipes from different international cuisines, and each recipe is
specified with its water footprint, which is the sum of all the water needed not only to
cook from the recipes, but also all the water that has been used to produce that food.

    As an example, to make a simple Chinese "wan tan", no less than 5,804 litres of water
are used. The We Eat Water application has a symbolic price of 0.79 euros. The money
raised by the Foundation through the application will fund the four aid projects that the
foundation is carrying out in the world in 2012, with organisations such as Unicef, the
Vicente Ferrer Foundation, Oxfam and Education Without Borders.

    About the We Are Water Foundation

    The We Are Water Foundation has two main objectives. The first is to raise public and
institutional awareness regarding water issues and to promote a new culture regarding
water that allows for a fair and sustainable management of global water resources. The
second is to implement all kinds of actions to mitigate the negative effects of the lack
of adequate water resources. The Foundation's areas of activities include interventions in
infrastructure, education, health and research in the most deprived areas of the planet.

   
                                                             http://www.wearewater.org
                                         https://www.facebook.com/wearewaterfoundation
                                                     https://twitter.com/#!/wearewater

   
    Press Office of We Are Water Foundation
    Rosalia del Rio
    rdelrio@ulled.com
    Phone : +34915629083
    Mobile: +34629452452

Source: We Are Water Foundation

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