March 22 is marked as World Water Day. A series of open day activities and gatherings were held in Hangzhou to raise public awareness on the sustainability of water resources. Yang Shanshan has more.

On World Water Day, hundreds of domestic and international visitors came to the National Water Museum of China in Hangzhou to learn about the country's water management history and exchange ideas on global water protection.

CHEN YONGMING Director, National Water Museum of China "We hold open day activities on World Water Day just to build a platform for communication and dialogue. We invite delegates from different countries to exchange ideas on water resources, enhance our cooperation and promote the United Nations' 2030 sustainability goals."

A meeting was held to discuss climate change impact on global water resources and challenges in water security and conservancy.

PHILIPPE GOURBESVILLE President, International Association for Hydro-Environment Engineering and Research "China has a long history of water management. It's more than two millennium that the first infrastructure was developed across the country. Of course, challenges become more complex during the last two decades with fast urban development and fast economic success of China. And then more challenges and pressure come to water resources. The problem was to achieve security and to produce energy and at the same time to keep clean environment. During the early day, it was difficult and quite challenging, but over the last 20 years, I have seen the very strong improvement of the quality of water resources. The quality of water services are provided to the citizens. All efforts have been made to make the city and environment to make more resilient regarding to natural disasters."

MADS VESTERAGER NIELSEN Commercial Consulate for Water and Environment Royal Danish Consulate-General "One area is the industrial reuse of water. It's something we also do in Denmark. But I have seen that this is really on the mind of policy-makers here in China. That is an area I would highlight (for cooperation) and say there's really a lot of potential. I think this really is an area (where we can work) to make the world a cleaner place."

The theme of this year's World Water Day is "Water For Peace" and emphasizes the indispensable role water plays in fostering global stability and prosperity.

YANG SHANSHAN Hangzhou "Through a series of open day activities, organizers hope to raise public awareness about water security as well as promote international cooperation for sustainable management of global water resources. Yang Shanshan, CGTN, Hangzhou."