Raising a glass of water

Water has always been on my mind. When I was a kid, I used to wait by the water tank on the roof for it to fill up once a week, only to place a huge lock on its lid. I had to bath with only one bucket of heated water when we didn't get water at all, let alone clean water. 

Yesterday, I went kayaking for 8 hours in the archipelago of Stockholm, the city where I live surrounded by water in every direction. Where bathing in the fresh summer water and skiing during the winter become weekly activities for a whole population. 

Yesterdays Kayak tour in the Stockholm Archepelago. 

On my upper right shoulder, which I cannot move because of yesterday's kayaking, there's a snow flake tattooed thickly in the center, for a good reason: this Aquarius is symbolically a real water carrier.

I also happen to work with water, or water policy issues at a global water research institute. We teach water professionals, give water prizes, lead water science, and arrange one of the world's most important water conferences. After 10 years of journalism, covering water among other topics, I found out that beyond freedom of expression, water is an equally important agenda that should be pushed across and along global political structures.

Raising a glass of clean water is a luxury for billions around the world. So raise yours, and look at it for a second - this colorless, odorless, secret of life. And think, there's water in everything, you're 70% water, the earth is 90% water, your jeans, food, couch, it all consumed a whole lot of water before it got to you.

So raise your glass for those who can't have it - mostly because you do.