The 47th Session of the UN General Assembly held in January 1993 decided to mark March 22 every year as World Water Day to strengthen the comprehensive and coordinated planning and management and protection of water resources.

For the past several decades the amount of water used increased 4-8 percent every year. Water will be reportedly more expensive than oil worldwide in the future as agricultural water accounts for 70 percent and industrial water 20 percent in the amount of fresh water used.

At present 40 percent of the global population is facing shortage of water.

The water crisis is foreseen to be more serious in the future. 3 500 million people will suffer water shortage in 2025.

The United Nations Children's Fund announced that over 1.6 million children under 5 die worldwide every year due to the use of polluted water.

Under such situation many countries in the world are greatly concerned for the work to protect water resources and solve the water problem.

The Algerian president said that his government set a solution to the problem as top priority and is channeling a large amount of money into the construction of 18 new dams, the refining of seawater, waste water disposal, the prospecting of underground water and other projects.

The Mexican president noted that the government set forth a solution to the water problem as a primary task for the security of the state and the Guinean president said his government would make efforts to satisfactorily provide drinking water to all areas including the capital city.

The Kenyan president made it clear that the government would make sustained great efforts to increase the production of electricity and put water supply on a normal footing.

New plans were worked out in different countries including China, Angola and Mozambique on the basis of the achievements made in solving the water problem in the past.

Various countries will make sustained efforts to settle the acute shortage of water in the future, too.