International conference on water challenges begins in Stockholm

Xinhua: Some 2500 scientists, politicians and officials from 140 countries gathered here Monday to begin a week-long conference to seek ways to address global water challenges. The international conference will address a wide variety of critical water-related issues with a special focus on sanitation and climate, said Anders Berntell, executive director of the Stockholm International Water Institute.

"Billions of people in the world live without sustainable access to safe drinking water or suffer ill health due to poor sanitation," said Berntell at the inauguration of the World Water Week, which runs through Saturday. The reason for the growing water challenges is not climate change, but the world's ever-increasing population, Berntell added….