” Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said in his message for the Day.

World Water Day: UN urges greater cooperation on common and fragile resource

22 March 2013 – Greater cooperation is urgently needed for more equitable use and division of water, senior United Nations officials today stressed, marking the twentieth anniversary of World Water Day.
“Water is a common resource. Let us use it more intelligently and waste less so all get a fair share,” Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said in his message for the Day.
In separate remarks at the high-level dialogue on water cooperation in New York, Mr. Ban reiterated that “competition is growing among farmers and herders, industry and agriculture, town and country, upstream and downstream, and across borders.”
One out of every three people lives in a country with moderate to high water stress, he said, and by 2030 nearly half the global population could be facing water scarcity, with demand outstripping supply by 40 per cent due in part to climate change and the needs of populations that are growing in size and prosperity.