M Venkaiah Naidu,India's Vice President today called for a nationwide campaign on water conservation and urged each citizen to become a water warrior and save every drop of water.

Speaking virtually at the Mission Paani's Jal Pratigya Diwas event organized by news organisation News 18 and Harpic, the Vice President stressed the need for taking collective action to avert a major water crisis.

Naidu said that only 0.5 per cent was available for drinking out of the 3 per cent freshwater that was available on earth. "India has more than 18 per cent of the world’s population but has only 4 per cent of the world’s renewable water resources," he added.

Mentioning a UN report, Naidu said around 2.2 billion people currently did not have access to safely managed drinking water, and around 4.2 billion, or 55 per cent of the world’s population, were currently living without safely managed sanitation.

Drawing attention to the adverse effects of water scarcity on women and children, he said, "Women spend over 200 million hours every day to fetch water from distant places. Sharing the burden with their mothers, globally children spend 200 million hours each day collecting water."

Focusing on the water crisis the Vice President said, "Rapid urbanization, growing population, expanding industrial and agricultural activities, indiscriminate drilling of borewells, climate change and careless use of water are some of the factors leading to water shortages."

Expressing concern over water scarcity in India, he said, "The water situation in India is also worrisome and we cannot remain complacent by adopting a 'chaltha hai' attitude."

Naidu also expressed his happiness over the creation of Jal Shakti Ministry, to give an impetus to integrated management of water resources, promote water conservation, recharge, re-use and ensure water security..