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World Water Day highlights importance of water conservation

Mar 22, 2017 | 12:38 PM

 

MEDICINE HAT, AB —  “It’s the basis of life, it’s the life blood of the planet,” is what David Condon, Medicine Hat Chapter of Council of Canadians, said about water.

Wednesday is World Water Day. 

It was created in 1993 by the United Nations to make people think about how important water is to our world. 

Medicine Hat hosted an exhibit at the library to get Hatters to think about their use of water, what water means to them, and what our world is going to look like in the future if we continue to abuse our usage.

Condon said North America uses more water per capita than any other continent.

“We tend to just take it for granted. That when we turn on the tap the water is there and so there is nothing more to think about,” he said. “But in a lot of developing countries, in Africa and Asia, in particular in South America, access to water and clean water is a real problem.”

He said people need to conserve and protect water.  Some ways to conserve is to take shorter showers and turn the tap off when brushing your teeth.

More damage to water ways and water sheds will happen if people continue to take advantage of our water.

“It affects wildlife, it affects human beings, it affects agriculture,” said Condon. “And so we really, really need to be thinking very clearly about something that is important to us, what’s happening to it and what we do as individuals and as a society.”

People in developing countries have a greater appreciation for water than people in developed countries.  He said over three million people die annually from lack of clean water.

“People have to walk many miles to get to the water they need for the day, and so they understand the scarcity and the importance of water and to use the minimal amount of water that they can,” he said.  “As opposed to just turning on the tap, letting it run or relaxing in that nice shower and just standing there with a lot of water running down the drain.”

Condon is hoping that Medicine Hat will become a blue community, where people do not rely on buying bottled water, but instead use reusable bottles.  He is encouraging Hatters to take a pledge to not buy bottled water for 30 days.