World Water Day 2019 - our relationship with water in pictures

Though not always kind to us, water is essential to human life

The UN has pledged to ensure that every single person on earth will have access to clean and sustainable water sources by the year 2030.

Toward this goal, World Water Day 2019 seeks to address why 2.2 billion people currently live without access to safe water with the focus on how discrimination on the basis of gender, race, class etc. makes access particularly hard for certain groups.

Safe water - that which is free from contamination and readily accessible - is a human right recognised by the UN as “essential for the full enjoyment of life and all human rights".

Though it is not always kind to us - this week saw vast areas of southern Africa devastated by flooding – water aids humans in work, leisure, decoration and, of course, survival.

Here The Independent has compiled a gallery of photographs depicting humanity’s relationship with water.