On World Water Day, Here Are 10 People Trying To Save Earth's Most Precious Resource

March 22 every year is dedicated to Earth¡¯s most valuable resource - water- without which life wouldn¡¯t have started 3.5 billion years ago. World Water Day is about taking action filled with passion and yearning to tackle the water crisis as 1.8 billion people do not have access to safe water.

One of UN¡¯s Sustainable Development Goals includes ensuring everyone has access to safe water by 2030.

Water.org

Today, let¡¯s celebrate 10 people who are tackling this crisis head on:

1. Rajendra Singh

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Also known as the ¡°Water man of India¡±, he won the prestigious Stockholm Water Prize in 2015 for bringing water to 1,000 Indian villages. He won for his simple and cheap technique that judges think should be followed worldwide. He uses an ancient and all-natural method that everyone knows about, but few use ¨C rainwater harvesting.

2. Matt Damon

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This Hollywood actor is the co-founder of Water.org, a not-for-profit organisation that works for breaking barriers, which are hindering people¡¯s access to safe water and sanitation around the world. Damon has said, ¡°You cannot solve poverty without solving water and sanitation.¡±

3. Water for people

Water for people

A global organisation, with headquarters in the US, that improves the quality of life of people by developing locally sustainable drinking water resources, sanitation facilities and hygiene education programmes. In West Bengal, the Sundarban Social Development Centre is a local NGO partner that supports Water for People. It organises and trains water sanitation communities to operate and maintain water systems. In 2013, this organisation with its local partners supported 126 communities and implemented water, sanitation, and hygiene education programming in 107 schools.

4. Abid Surti

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A man of many talents, the 80-year-old runs an NGO, Drop Dead Foundation which works for saving water and fixing plumbing problems in Mumbai. He goes from home to home in and around Mumbai fixing leaky taps, all for free. In the year 2007, when he established the NGO, Abid visited about 1666 homes and fixed 414 taps. He began working for water conservation after he read somewhere that, ¡°If one drop of water goes waste every second, then 1,000 litres are lost over a month. The numbers hit me hard¡±.

5. Humana People to People

Humana People to People

India is the biggest consumer of groundwater for agriculture in the world. This organisation started with community development projects by working with people in destitute rural and urban areas and creating access to safe and clean drinking water. Some of their projects involve creating awareness and implementing low technology water conservation techniques, and training farmers on water saving cultivation methods.

6. Amla Ruia

BCCL

This social activist based in Mumbai has altered many lives in Rajasthan¡¯s villages through traditional water conservation techniques such as rainwater harvesting, and by building check dams. She founded Aakar Charitable Trust with the aim of providing sustainable solutions to people with poor access to water and sanitation. Her trust has aided in the construction of over 200 dams in over 100 villages in Rajasthan.

7. Walk for water

Walk for water

This NGO has a very clear-cut message ¨C to provide clean water access to everyone. It believes that establishing water treatment plants as a necessity and also a substantial solution to health problems in India. Walk for Water also focuses on spreading awareness on waste management, reducing pollution and providing nature-friendly sustainable solutions to environmental problems. Its ¡°walk for water movement¡± involves communities and people to spread awareness on the importance of water.

8. Ayyappa Masagi

Agriculture information

After working at Larsen & Tubro as a mechanical engineer for 23 years, Ayyappa set up the Water Literacy Foundation in Bengaluru to make India a ¡°water efficient nation¡± by raising awareness about water scarcity and establishing rainwater harvesting apparatus in as many parts of the country as possible. His vision is to change India¡¯s water scarcity situation by 2020 by working with farmers and supporting them through education on non-irrigational agriculture and rainwater harvesting techniques.

9. Tushaar Shah

Asian Development Bank

One of the world¡¯s leading experts on our planet¡¯s water crisis, he is a senior fellow at the International Water Management Institute. He¡¯s written extensively on the topic about the connection between energy and irrigation sectors, which means harmful methods of extracting groundwater. Tushaar, also an economist, was awarded the Outstanding Scientist Award by the Consultative Group on International Agriculture Research in 2002.

10. Wells for India

Wells for India

A UK NGO, whose vision in India includes a quality of life propelled by the poorest rural dryland communities having secure and safe access to water at all times for household and agricultural purposes. It also wants all rural communities to have access to basic sanitation and a livelihood achieved through good health and education.