Friday, March 21

World Water Day observed on Saturday

[MARCH 21, 2003]  In an effort to inspire worldwide political and community action and encourage greater global understanding of the need for more responsible water use and conservation, World Water Day 2003 will be observed on March 22.

"Sustainable approaches to water use can benefit future generations, and Illinois is no exception. The Illinois State Water Survey recently compiled important water supply issues in a question-answer format on the Web for public viewing and comment," says Derek Winstanley, ISWS chief.

"Drawing on the experience of survey scientists and backed by data collected and maintained at the ISWS, this site provides answers about water availability and use in Illinois, effects of water quality on water supplies, costs of water supplies, legal issues, and information about where to find water resources data. It also includes links to more detailed discussions, reports and other water resources agencies in Illinois and the country," adds Winstanley.

Abundant water resources have been of great benefit to Illinois citizens, agriculture and industry. More than 2 billion gallons of water are used each day for drinking, irrigation and industrial purposes. Another 17 billion gallons per day are used in the generation of power for homes, offices and businesses.

 

"As Illinois continues to grow, careful stewardship becomes increasingly important to ensure the future availability of clean water at reasonable cost. Water shortages are projected for some areas of northeastern Illinois by 2020 if action is not taken," says Winstanley.

Fresh water is essential not only for human survival, but also for healthy ecosystems and sustainable development of society. Yet pollution, overconsumption, and poor water management have reduced the availability of fresh water to the extent that water shortages now affect one out of every three people on earth. World Water Day calls for an awareness of the importance of fresh water and of measures to reduce the incidence of people being without access to safe water.

 

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"Wise planning and management of water resources is necessary to provide adequate supplies of clean water at reasonable cost, to protect our state's precious water resources and ecosystems, to reduce water conflicts, and to support economic growth. Wise planning is based on sound technical information, taking into account such matters as climatic variations and change, renewable yields of surface waters and aquifers, opportunities for the conjunctive use of surface water and groundwater, and water conservation and reuse," says Winstanley.

The mission of the ISWS is to characterize and evaluate the availability, quality and use of the atmospheric, surface water and groundwater resources of Illinois and to make resulting data and information available to the public, decision makers, planners and managers. Since its establishment in 1895, the ISWS has been nationally and internationally recognized as a leader in collection and interpretation of water resources and atmospheric data. The agency, a division of the Illinois Department of Natural Resources, is located on the campus of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

[Illinois State Water Survey press release]

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