A Party of the water 2006 This year’s Water Festival, organized by the Ministry of Environment and Housing through the Catalan Water Agency, took place on 18 and 19 March on Avinguda Lluis Companys, between Arc de Triomf and Ciutadella Park in Barcelona. During these two days a variety of workshops were held on the subjects of : WATER, THE SOURCE OF LIFE; WATER, A VALUABLE RESOURCE; and WATER VOLUNTARY AIDPROJECTS, as well as a score of activities and artistic performances on the three stages of the Festival. There was also participation from different bodies connected with the environment with information and activities about their initiatives in matters related to water. With attendance by a good number of members of the public, this year’s Festival demonstrated the great interest and awareness by everyone towards water. World Water Day, which we are celebrating today, gives us a unique chance to announce that deciding what type of water and getting the water we want is something that affects everyone. Our generation faces the challenge of recovering the waters and their ecosystems and that is possible if we all work to see our rivers come back to life, our lakes glitter, to make our aquifers flow and to enjoy our coastal waters achieving a good ecological state, as it is called now. In order to achieve this good state of the water we must all protest our rivers and seas from pollution caused by humans and industries and we must all preserve its state and its environment in the best possible condition. So, among all of us, we must decide to regenerate, reutilize, desalinate and save to have more water. Using more water does not mean having a better quality of life; but, on the other hand, saving water means making good use of it and having more of it available for everyone. Between us, we must decide to maintain our river beds, to recover the woodland on the banks and to make it possible for fish to swim around without barriers. In this way, and once again by all working together, we will improve the lives of the animal and plant species.
