Google has an logo today that made no sense to me. If you right-click on it and then hit "properties", you'll find it's for "World Water Day".

A little searching reveals that the UN has declared this day to be World Water Day. But it seems to have gotten very little news play: there are few hits for it in Google-news.

Has there ever been such a day before? Had anyone even heard of this? Or was it a publicity flop for the UN?

If you click on the logo, Google will do an automatic search for you.

Unfortunately, that gives you a seach for World Water Day 2005 rather than for "World Water Day 2005" (with quotes).

The former gives almost 10 million but includes such irrelevancies as "3rd World urged to act on environment. Source: Copyright 2005, Yomiuri Shimbun ... We drink water every day, that's part of the environment."

The latter gives only 205 hits. So you can see why I wondered whether this has garnered much attention, beyond those folks who are already interested in such things.

Yeah, but (tm), the top URL is the right one.

jheem: "Yeah, but (tm)"

re(yeah)buttal - Agreed; my question was unclear. Has this momentous event registered even the slightest tremor on the seismograph of public opinion/awareness? Or is it more like National Pork Rinds Week: somebody proclaimed it, but no one was listening and nobody gives a durn about it?

Had anyone at all heard even a peep about "World Water Day"?

I was wondering what that blue water emptying into a ring thing meant on my Google... never heard word one about it.

I've never heard of it either. I was wondering if (1) I was stupid, or (2) It is more known in the international community...hoping of course that the latter was correct!

Brits?

I've not heard of it but the whole discussion about "water shortages" always annoys me.

Apart from a few kilos that the spacemen have taken away, there's as much water on the Earth as there ever has been. We don't use it up; we simply re-cycle it.

The shortage, of more properly lack, is one of proper distribution, which comes down to Governments' will - or rather, lack of will.

The Nevada Desert has very little natural water - but Las Vegas isn't short of the stuff simply because the will to get it there was present and the job was done.

If Governments were to spend as much on developing the water-distribution infrastructure as they do on killing people, the problem could be solved world-wide in less than a year.

Nope. Never heard of it. There are far too many "National", "International" and "World" ... Days proclaimed these days. A few special days a year might have some impact, but not the current numbers. People just suffer from "Day" overload.

I agree, Arnie! Thanks for pointing that out!

But then, when there should BE a special day, there isn't one. For instance, I was hoping there would be a National Donut Day . . . no dice.

A non-smoking friend of mine makes a point of having a cigarette once a year on None Smoking Day.
Why can't we have a National Get Drunk Day?

Well, FatStan, where have you been? I thought we'd lost you forever. Welcome back!

I know, there are so many "days" that I don't pay attention anymore either.

My personal feeling is that all these special days are a result of a conspiracy by the greeting card companies.

Oh man! Did I forget to mail out my Water Day cards again? And we got new family photoes to include in them and everything! Drat!

quote:

Why can't we have a National Get Drunk Day?

I thought that was also known as St. Patrick's Day?

Zay Smith, from QT in the Sun Times, wrote an article in today's paper that is relevant to this thread. In April, here are the National days/month in the U.S.:

National Poetry Month, National Guitar Month, National Autism Awareness Month, National Cancer Control Month, National Occupational Therapy Month, National Animal Cruelty Prevention Month, National Community Spirit Month, National Couple Appreciation Month, International Customer Loyalty Month, National Tomato Month, National Listening Awareness Month, National Cosmetology Month, National Keep America Beautiful Month, National Lawn and Garden Month, National Mathematics Education Month, National Grilled Cheese Sandwich Month, National Woodworking Month, National Sexually Transmitted Diseases Month, National Sports Eye Safety Month, National Stress Awareness Month, National Zoo and Aquarium Month, National Humor Month, National Pet First Aid Awareness Month, National Self-Publishing Month, National Youth Sports Safety Month, National School Library Month, and National Straw Hat Month.

My personal favorite is National Grilled Cheese Sandwich Month!

I had not heard of World Water Day before, either. But here's a quote from the website:

quote:

"Today, there are still almost 1.1 billion people who have inadequate access to water and 2.4 billion without appropriate sanitation,"

Water is a necessity of life. Only a tiny fraction of the world's water is available for human use. Several organizations, such as CARE, Ethos International, Global Green USA, Global Water, Millennium Water Alliance, WaterAid and Waterlines, and WaterPartners, have been working years to help peoples around the world to get access to water for their basic needs. Recognizing the shortage of (or lack of) access to potable water the United Nations, in 1992, designated March 22 to be World Water Day, beginning in 1993. In December 2003 the U.N. declared 2005 to 2015 to be the "Water for Life" International Decade for Action, beginning with the March 22, 2005 World Water Day.

This is not a trivial matter. Most of us in the U.S. have plenty of water, though drought conditions and water rationing have become more common, including in the Pacific Northwest. The livelihood of farmers in dry states, including eastern Washington, is continually threatened by the lack of water to irrigate their crops.

But water shortages are very real and life threatening in other parts of the world. Fights, skirmishes, and all-out wars are fought over access to water.

I had only heard of one of the organizations I listed above: WaterPartners. Their vision is simple:

quote:

"We envision the day when everyone in the world can take a safe drink of water."

Achieving that vision is not.

The WaterPartners site goes on to say

quote:

More than one billion people lack access to a safe supply of drinking water. Water-related diseases are the leading cause of death in the world. WaterPartners was founded in 1990 because efforts to address the world's top health problem were inadequate and inefficient. We have solutions that work.

Tinman

Well, April is National Library Month . . . Happy Access everyone!