Three-quarters of a billion people have no access to clean drinking water, and the United Nations estimates that 3.3 billion people are living in areas of water scarcity—that’s almost half the population of the entire planet. 80 percent of all sickness and disease worldwide is related to contaminated water, and by 2025, it is estimated that two out of three people will live in a water-stressed area.
Water-stressed areas aren’t just limited to developing countries, as nearly every state west of the Rocky Mountains in western USA is affected by water shortages. The most severe example is in California, which has been experiencing its worst drought in 1,200 years.
It’s no coincidence that in 2010 our first philanthropic donation as a company came in the form of Qlik licenses for Circle of Blue, who wanted to use Qlik to report on diminishing supplies of clean fresh water at World Water Week. Five years later and water is still top of mind.
Representatives from Qlik recently attended the Clinton Global Initiative (CGI) Annual Meeting, where global leaders convene to create and implement innovative solutions to the world’s most pressing challenges. Qlik CEO, Lars Björk, served on a panel titled “Hacking the Solution: Connecting Experts From Technology and International Development”, which addressed opportunities to adapt information and communications technologies for developing country contexts.
One of the highlights of the CGI Annual Meeting is selecting “Commitments,” which are new, specific, and measurable plans to address a specific, significant challenge. We are very proud to announce that Qlik’s submission, “Groundwater: Data to Drive Action Toward Sustainability,” was selected as an exemplary approach to aggregating data on an open, visual platform! Qlik’s CGI commitment partners include Circle of Blue,Columbia Water Center, University of California Irvine, Pacific Institute, and Twitter.
This multi-partner commitment will launch with a pilot data visualization app driven byQlik Sense with data support from Twitter, that analyzes groundwater supplies and related water flows in California and the American West. The commitment will expand its scope to national and then to global groundwater supplies, providing a visual, trusted, cumulative, and collaborative resource for decision makers, researchers, media, and the public.
Today, we serve approximately 200 global charities, which is a testament to the value delivered by Qlik products, the passion of Team Qlik and our unwavering commitment to Corporate Social Responsibility.
By Evan Siff – Social Media Manager at Qlik
