World Water Day: Everything You Need to Know About H2O

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This year marks the 19th annual World Water Day, created by the United Nations as an international day to focus attention on the importance of freshwater and advocate for the sustainable management of freshwater resources. Each year, World Water Day focuses on a different aspect of freshwater. This year, that focus is Water for Cities: Responding to the Urban Challenge. In honor of World Water Day, here are a bunch of graphics, images, and visualizations that should help you better understand the importance and seriousness of our global water challenge.

Some facts and figures from the UN-Water about Water and Cities. 

Yes, the Earth might appear to be mostly covered in water, but of global water volume, only 2.5 percent is freshwater, and of that tiny sliver, only 0.3 percent flows in the form of lakes, rivers, and streams.

Compare the respective water footprints of United States and Libya in terms of:

• water supply
• water usage
• total and urban population
• water available per person
• people without access to water

Compare the products. 

The Water Footprint Network considers the "virtual water import" to a country—in this case, the Netherlands—based on their coffee imports. The greener the area, the larger the coffee crop import and, thus, the larger the "virtual water" import.