?Do what you can, do it with others, and do it with passion.?

This inspirational quote by the Chair of the UN-Water, Guy Ryder, emphasizes in the power of individuals to change the fate of water in this modern world.

It spreads disease. Compromises safety. Makes education elusive and economic opportunity farther out of reach. The lack of access to safe water is deadly, dangerous, and a major obstacle to the people of developing nations becoming economically empowered. It is what is standing between billions of people and their health, safety, and the opportunity to unlock their true potential.

In 22 March every year, the whole world will gather and celebrate an important entity that gives life to this empty planet in the first place! That is? Water.

According to WHO, today, 1.8 billion people use a source of drinking water contaminated with faeces, putting them at risk of contracting cholera, dysentery, typhoid and polio. Unsafe water, poor sanitation and hygiene cause around 842,000 deaths each year. Thus, to tackle this problem, the theme of 2017?s World Water Day is wastewater. It stresses about reducing and reusing wastewater. The quantity of wastewater generated and its overall pollution load are increasing globally due to population growth, accelerated urbanisation and economic development. Wastewater management however is still inadequate in most developing countries, mostly because of budget constraint. However, it is enormously outweighed by the benefits to human health, economic development and environmental sustainability, not to mention creating business opportunities in the ?green? industry. The potentials of exploiting wastewater as a resource are aplenty and huge! For simple examples, wastewater could be recycled through 1) process water for cooling or heating 2) rainwater from roof collection and 3) concrete aprons for toilet flushing, irrigation or vehicle washing.

    On 22nd March, I, Mikhail as a regional ambassador in Malaysia, had the opportunity to participate in the national-level celebration for the World Water Day 2017 with the theme "Wastewater" at Dataran Teluk Kemang, Port Dickson in Negeri Sembilan. It was inaugurated by the Deputy Prime Minister of Malaysia, Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi and was also attended by Natural Resources and Environment Minister, Datuk Seri Dr Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar. It aims to raise awareness and recommence worldwide commitment to address issues related to water through the strategic plan and implementation of action by every country around the world. The Deputy Prime Minister stressed on to maximise the usage of underground water since the country has a total of three trillion cubic metres of underground water reserves. Currently its usage contributed to only 1.5 percent to the country's overall consumption. "Our country has many water resources and receives 907 billion cubic metres of rainfall each year which is something extraordinary, but ironically we do not have enough water to consume.? To sum things up, many activities were held to raise awareness on the update and current water related issues in our country and I had a very enjoyable experience throughout this programme. It was an honour and a pleasure to represent Tunza Eco-Generation team at this prestigious event.