March 22, 2006, 12:30
The World Water Forum wrapped in Mexico with millions of euros in donations for water projects. One and a half million children under the age of five die every year from diseases caused by unsafe drinking water and poor sanitation.
In South Africa, the Water Research Commission is hosting 40 children from various schools to learn more about the environment and to commenorate the day. The schoolchildren are conducting health tests in the stream at the Botanical gardens in Pietermaritzburg.
Children in India's northern Varanasi today made a human chain to create awareness about the increasing pollution in the river Ganges on the occasion of World Water Day. The Ganges runs its course of over 2500km from Gangotri in the Himalayas to Ganga Sagar in the Bay of Bengal through 29 cities.
Despite several projects to clean the Ganges River, revered by Hindus all over the world, raw sewage, rotting carcasses, industrial effluent, fertilisers and pesticides that pollute the river are still dumped into it right through its long course from the Himalayan foothills to Bay of Bengal. - Additional report by Reuters
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