Sadiq Khan and Tooting campaigner Kate Norgrove walked for water at Westminster yesterday as part of a global campaign to raise awareness for the world water and sanitation crisis.

To mark United Nations’ “World Water Day”, Sadiq and Kate got a taste of the daily reality for millions of people by carrying water containers on a short walk near the Houses of Parliament at Victoria Gardens.

The event, called World Walks for Water, was organised by global campaign group End Water Poverty, and saw hundreds of thousands of people across the globe walking in solidarity with the 900 million people worldwide who still have no access to safe drinking water, and the 2.6 billion people without a toilet.

Sadiq Khan MP said, “Lack of water and sanitation traps some of the world’s poorest people in a vicious circle of disease, lost life chances and poverty,”

“The burden of this crisis largely falls on women and children, and so today I wanted to highlight the critical need for these basic services in the developing world.”

Kate Norgrove, Head of Campaigns for Water Aid, said, “Here in the UK it’s hard to begin to imagine what life would be like if we didn’t have clean water coming from our taps, or a toilet in our homes to use,” .

“But for billions around the world this is the reality, which has dire consequences on their ability to survive.”

Margaret Batty, WaterAid Policy and Campaigns Director said, “Water and sanitation are essential for improving health, education, gender equality and economic growth,”. “While the world waits to take action on the global water and sanitation crisis, 4,000 children die every single day from related illnesses. Today hundreds of thousands of people around the globe have demanded that the world wakes up to this deadly emergency. Billions without these basic services can’t wait any longer.”