Photo by Neil Palmer/CIAT

Happy International World Water Day!

Did you know that only 3 percent of the earth’s water resources are fresh water? And out of this only approximately one third is not frozen in glaciers and polar ice caps but accessible mainly as groundwater or in rivers and lakes?

Freshwater is renewable, but clean water resources are decreasing and population growth takes its toll. Matching water demand in cities has become challenging in an era in which more than half of the world’s inhabitants live in cities, a trend that is continuously increasing.

Since 1993 World Water Day has been held annually on 22 March to promote a specific theme on fresh water. This was recommended at the UN Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED) in Rio de Janeiro in 1992 and approved by the UN General Assembly.

Aware of limited water resources, many ICLEI members have stepped up their efforts to manage supplies more sustainably. All over the world local and regional governments and their utilities in cities such as Rotterdam (Netherlands), Melbourne (Australia), Durban (South Africa), Monterrey (Mexico), Suwon (Korea) and New York (USA) – to name but a few - demonstrate what can be done to provide optimal services to people without compromising the source of natural eco-systems.

In terms of international activities, ICLEI is one of the more than 30 internationally-renowned research and other organizations involved in the SWITCH project, one of the global flagship projects promoting Integrated Urban Water Management (finalized in 2011). Part-financed by the European Commission, the project worked with a number of cities throughout the world for innovation in the urban water sector.

In this context ICLEI developed the SWITCH Training Kit which targets water professionals working with local authorities and water utilities. Together with case studies and a number of other resources the six modules can be freely downloaded from the SWITCH Training Desk in three languages: English, Spanish and Portuguese.

For more information, contact barbara.anton@iclei.org