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Item 3A1 World Water Day is an international day of observance and action to draw attention to the plight of the more than 1 billion people world wide that lack access to clean, safe, drinking water; and, Whereas, the world water crisis is one of the largest public health issues of our time and nearly 1.1 billon people lack access to safe drinking water. The lack of clean drinking water is estimated to kill almost 4,500 children per day; and, Whereas, a third of the Earth’s population lives in “water stressed” countries and that number is expected to rise dramatically over the next two decades. The crisis is worst in developing countries, especially in Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia; and, Whereas, many women and young girls in rural areas in Sub-Saharan African and other parts of the world must trek as much as six miles everyday to retrieve water for their families. Due to this manual labor, these women and children are prevented from pursuing an education, maintaining their households, or earning additional income; and, Whereas, the goal of World Water Day 2007 is to raise awareness of serious water issues around the world and to educate people on how they can become water advocates; now, Therefore, I, Mayor Andy Wambsganss, on behalf of the City Council, do hereby proclaim March 22, 2007, as World Water Day 2007