Every year some 1.8 million children die as a result of diarrhoea and other diseases caused by unsafe water and poor sanitation. This corresponds to 4,900 deaths each day or an under-five population equivalent in size to that of London and New York combined

Improvements in safe water supply, and in particular in hygiene and sanitation, could reduce the incidence of diarrhoea by about 20% and the number of deaths due to diarrhoea by more than 50%.

Trachoma (a disease related to poverty, illiteracy and unhygienic, crowded living conditions, particularly in dry dusty areas) is the leading cause of preventable blindness in the world, with an estimated 146 million cases, 6 million of which have caused actual blindness.

Meeting the sanitation target means that an average of 140 million people per year need to gain access to sanitation every year until 2015. Compared to the average of 85 million per year that gained access between 1990 and 2002, this poses a huge challenge to governments and the international community alike.

Increased and safe access to primary education for girls will pave the way to more gender-balanced decision-making processes for water management, in line with Millennium Development Goal (MDG) number 3 to promote gender equality and empower women.

In the poorest countries, 1 out of every 5 children fails to reach his or her 5th birthday, mainly due to infectious and environmental diseases that arise from poor water quality.

It is estimated that 63% of all deaths of children under 5 can be prevented using current knowledge and methods including oral rehydration for diarrhoea, antibiotics for pneumonia, mosquito nets and anti-malaria drugs for malaria. Other solutions include better water supply, sanitation, and domestic hygiene.

A lack of adequate sanitation is the most critical determinant of contamination of drinking water with micro-organisms.

By some estimates, the expansion of agricultural demand for food by a wealthier and 50% larger global population could drive the conversion of an additional billion hectares of unmodified ecosystems to agriculture by 2050. This could result in nitrogen- and phosphorus-driven eutrophication of freshwater and near-shore marine ecosystems being more than doubled, with comparable increase in pesticide use.

Central and South America hold the record for the world's lowest annual precipitation average: the record holder is Arica (Chile). In 59 years of records the annual average has been 0,8 mm.

When global warming takes hold, there could be as many as 200 million people overtaken by disruptions of monsoon systems and other rainfall regimes, by droughts of unprecedented severity and duration, and by sea-level rise and coastal flooding.

Virtual water is an essential tool in calculating the real water use of a country, or its water footprint, which is equal to the total domestic use, plus the virtual water import, minus the virtual water export of a country.

The Global Water Supply and Sanitation 2000 Assessment (WHO/UNICEF, 2000) shows that 1.1 billion people lack access to improved water supply and 2.4 billion to improved sanitation.