Ever heard of World Water Day?

The United Nations (UN) has been calling for World Water Day since 1992 and is addressing SDG (= sustainable development goal) 6 ‘clean water and sanitation’ as part of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. After all, what would happen if we ran out of drinking water due to excessive pollution or overconsumption?

At the World Water Day exhibition on virtual water, some students explored the question ‘How much water can you save?’. Virtual water is water that is used industrially and agriculturally to produce food such as fruit or meat and also products such as cans, jeans, cigarettes, mobile phones, shoes and much more. And that is no small amount. In the exhibition, the pupils were able to calculate their personal savings potential and discover the extent to which drinking water is polluted by agriculture, the manufacture of medicines and products or even microplastics at thematic tables with the help of short texts and videos.

The realisation: It is not just visible water that needs to be saved, but above all the ‘water footprint’ of the virtual water that is imported with the products because this is around 3900 litres per person per day.

Many thanks to the SDG working group of BBZ (= vocational education centre) Norderstedt who supported us with their expertise and materials.