The theme for this year’s UN World Water Day is “Coping with Water Scarcity”, so it’s fitting a report released only days ahead by WWF finds some of the world’s largest and most well-know rivers could dry up due to climate change, pollution and bad planning -- even ones in our own backyard.

U.S. river threatened

World Wildlife Fund released “World’s Top 10 Rivers at Risk”, a report which includes the Rio Grande (along the U.S./Mexico border) as one of the most threatened rivers. Water diversions, alternations of the floodplain, dams and pollution are cited as causes for its degradation. Not surprisingly since they’ve been dealing with unprecedented drought, an Australian river also makes the list.

"The world's freshwater ecosystems are under siege, and the rivers in this report are the front lines," says Carter Roberts, president and CEO of WWF in the press release. "We don't have to look far to find examples of the freshwater crisis. The Rio Grande basin is in our own backyard and over-extraction and drought are draining it dry..."

The World Water Day websites provides all the information you need to get informed about the issues and materials to spread the word to others, from pamphlets and posters to e-cards.

Reduce your water use

Take steps to reduce your water use by brushing your teeth with the tap off, doing full loads of dishes and laundry and trading in your water-hungry sprinkler for a drip irrigation system. The changes seem trivial to some people and much too modest for others, but I believe every little bit helps.