Today is United Nations World Water Day. The theme for 2010 is water quality - clean water and good sanitation. There are events and activities taking place around the globe to mark the occasion.
Dutch Crown Prince Willem Alexander is chair of the UN Secretary-General's Advisory Board on Water and Sanitation and will be giving a speech about clean water today in the Kenyan capital Nairobi.
The Worldwide Fund for Nature and the University of Twente have been working together for World Water Day to calculate the water footprint of the average Dutch person. The figure is 2.3 million litres per person per year, nearly twice the global average.
Since the Netherlands imports a large number of products, almost 90 percent of the water used by Dutch people comes from abroad. Water is used in the manufacture of many products. A cotton shirt, for example, requires 2,700 litres of water, a cup of coffee 140 litres and a sandwich 40 litres.
© Radio Netherlands Worldwide












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