March 22 is World Water Day, a United Nations-sponsored annual event designed to raise awareness about water usage and its scarcity.
This year's theme is "Nature of Water" and focuses on nature-based solutions to 21st century water problems.
Here are seven things to know from water.org and reported by IBT.
1. Water, sanitation and hygiene-related diseases kill 1 million people each year, and every 90 seconds, a child dies from a water-related disease.
2. Nearly 844 million people do not have access to safe water, and 2.3 billion people do not have access to improved sanitation. This means 1 in 9 people lack access to safe water, and 1 in 3 people lack access to a toilet.
3. The world's total water supply is about 332.5 million cubic miles, yet 95 percent of the water used daily is wasted.
4. In some parts of the world, women and girls spend up to six hours each day collecting water.
5. About 1 in 3 schools do not have access to basic water and sanitation.
6. The lack of basic water and sanitation results in $260 billion lost globally each year.
7. If there was universal access to basic water and sanitation, the global economy would reap benefits of nearly $32 billion.
By 2030, the UN hopes to meet its goal of ensuring everyone has access to safe water.
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