World Water Day

Each year more than one billion of our fellow human beings have little choice but to resort to using potentially harmful sources of water. This causes a silent humanitarian crisis that kills some 3,900 children every day.

Nearly two in ten people in the world have no source of safe drinking water.


• One billion people worldwide have no access to clean water within a 15-minute walk of their homes.


• 25 million people die each year from contaminated water (that's the equivalent of the entire population of Canada.)


• 1.4 billion people lack access to clean drinking water.


• Americans empty 2.5 million plastic water bottles an hour. Each one takes 500 years to decompose if not recycled.


• The average American home uses 293 gallons of water a day, the average African family used 5 gallons of water a day.

(Troubled Water, Anita Roddick)

Water is symbolic of our relationship with the divine, carrying the image of renewal, promise and hope. We are called to live in right relationship with the rest of the world and with creation, and our lives should reflect that. "We need to be careful that our vineyards aren't watered with the water of those living in poverty around the world. The wine of the body of Christ is meant to be enjoyed by all. "