Everyone Invited to Celebrate and Take Action for World Water Day

World Water Day 2008 is Thursday, March 20, and a group of Utah State University engineering students invite attendees to a presentation about the importance of clean water.

“Nearly 1.2 billion people drink dirty water every day,” said USU biological and irrigation engineering student Saleh Taghvaeian.

USU students from Engineers Without Borders will discuss volunteer projects they have worked on in Mexico, Peru and Uganda, providing people with clean and safe water. The USU biological and irrigation engineering department sponsors the event. The free presentation is Thursday, March 20, at noon in the engineering building, room 302. Everyone is invited.

“We are trying to increase the level of awareness of the importance of clean water, and the problems caused due to the lack of it,” said Taghvaeian.

World Water Day was established in 1992 at the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development. Every year, the United Nations celebrates the day, and the theme for 2008 is sanitation.

According to the United Nations, clean water is important, and there are many alarming statistics about the lack of clean water in the world. For example, the proportion of people without basic toilets in 2004 was 2 in 5; children under 18 without access to improved sanitation totals 980 million (280 million are under the age of 5); and daily deaths involving children under the age of 5 from diarrheal diseases in 2004 totaled 5,000.

For more information about World Water Day, visit the Web site.

Contact: Saleh Taghvaeian [s.t@aggiemail.usu.edu]