(OTTAWA) The Council of Canadians joins organizations and communities around the world in celebrating World Water Day. March 22 is officially designated World Water Day by the United Nations to raise awareness about the growing world water crisis.

The Council of Canadians' Blue Planet Project has been encouraging communities to mark this special day by hosting various local events. Activities have been planned from Vancouver to Tatamagouche and from Amsterdam to Penang.

"People around the world are very worried about the future of this precious resource. However, rather than addressing the growing crisis, governments are deregulating and privatizing water services and giving control of the world's water to global corporations," Jamie Dunn, Water Campaigner for the Council of Canadians and coordinator of the international Blue Planet Project.

To counter this trend, the Council of Canadians along with many organizations around the world launched a Global Water Treaty at the World Social Forum in Porto Alegre, Brazil in February. This international treaty will be presented at the World Summit on Sustainable Development in South Africa this August.

Maude Barlow, the Council's National Chairperson and co-author of a new book entitled Blue Gold, is currently in Japan at meetings to focus on next year's World Water Forum.

"Opposition to the privatization and commodification of water is growing around the world. The time has come to galvanize this opposition into a new vision for the future of the planet," said Maude Barlow, National Chair and co-author of a new book entitled Blue Gold: The Battle Against Corporate Theft of the World's Water with Tony Clarke.

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