World Water Day across the globe - in pictures

From Chile to the Philippines, The National selects the best images to represent World Water Day

A boy carries a bottle of drinking water to his home in the village of Madina Torobe, in the Matam region of Senegal. Maintaining access to drinking water in the country's north-west is a constant concern. Through the months of November to August no rain will fall, and rivers and natural lakes dry up. Not all areas have drinking wells and flowing taps. Where they di exist, the water is sometimes dirty or used specifically for animals. Fulani pastoralists and families living in these remote villages sometimes resort to digging large holes in dried river beds in search of cleaner drinking water from themselves and their animals. AFP

A man holds his breath while he swims in a hot spring near Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. World Water Day, marked annually on March 22, raises awareness of the 2.2 billion people living without access to safe water. EPA

Fishermen steer a boat through debris off the shore of Manila, Philippines. The archipelago is surrounded by vast body of water, but finding potable sources is a challenge for many. EPA

Environmental activists in Bali, Indonesia, float a sculpture made of waste plastic and depicting a droplet to mark World Water Day. The day is used to advocate the sustainable management of freshwater resources. EPA

People walk through an art installation made of plastic water bottles as part of an awareness drive in Malang, East Java. AFP

Dead carp fish lie on the dried lakebed of the Peñuelas Lake, a reservoir in Chile's Valparaiso Region. The reservoir, which supplies drinking water to Valparaiso and Viña del Mar, accumulates 0.2 per cent of its total water capacity. The central zone of Chile is facing one of the most extensive droughts documented. Despite its total capacity of 95 million cubic metres, the lake holds only 170 thousand cubic metres today. AFP

Bikram Shah, 18, digs about six metres underground to build a well in Kathmandu, Nepal. On the backdrop of rapid urban population growth, industrialisation and uncertainties caused by climate change, the city becomes short of water in the winter and spring seasons. The theme of this year’s World Water Day is Groundwater – Making the Invisible Visible. EPA

A woman collects drinking water from the city corporation water tap, on the occasion of World Water Day in Dhaka, Bangladesh. World Water Day is observed annually on 22 March to call attention and raise efforts for global access to clean water. This year's theme is Groundwater - Making the Invisible Visibible. EPA

Flowers are watered in Bitan, a tourist hot spot in New Taipei City, Taiwan. AFP

A man carries jerrycans to be filled with water in Karachi, Pakistan. EPA

Eduardo Capillan and his son, Neo, control a hose that is funnelling water from a pump outside into their house in Sitio Bakal along the outskirts of Quezon City, Metro Manila, Philippines. With assistance from government and non-government agencies, an emergency water disinfection and filtration system is providing clean drinking water to the remote community. EPA

People in a slum in Kolkata, India, collect drinking water from a municipal container tank. EPA

South Korean environmental activists hold placards reading ‘I will protect the sea from microplastics’ during a campaign to mark World Water Day at a park along the Han River in Seoul. AFP

A man bathes in ‘Los Chorros’ pools formed by a natural spring of water, in Colón, El Salvador. AFP

A woman drinks water distributed by a tanker to El Crucero, a town on the outskirts of Managua, Nicaragua. AFP

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