It has been predicted that water conservation will be the top environmental topic for 2008, and just as Al Gore's 'An Inconvenient Truth' pushed climate change up the agenda, the new movie 'Grand Canyon Adventure' could do the same for water.

The movie, which will premiere on March 14, 2008 in anticipation of World Water Day (March 22, 2008) in 3D IMAX theatres, follows environmental heroes Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. and Wade Davis, along with their daughters, as they journey down the Colorado River to raise awareness about the world’s growing shortage of fresh water.

“In our film, the Colorado River becomes a metaphor for global water issues, revealing how interconnected our rivers, water supply and human actions really are,” says the film’s two-time Academy Award-nominated producer/director Greg MacGillivray. He adds, “A river trip is one of those amazing life events where you’re ripped out of your daily routine and inspired to see the world in new ways. With IMAX 3D images, we’re able to put the audience even more into the action and let them participate in every twist and turn.”

Rather than the fact filled, wordy style of 'An Inconvenient Truth', however, Grand Canyon Adventure focuses on the adventure side of things. The giant-screen film uses the whitewater rafting action and grandeur of the Grand Canyon to tell an engaging story of how ordinary people can make a difference for our parched planet – one that is running out of clean, fresh water so fast the U.N. estimates that 40% of the world could face life-threatening shortages by the year 2050.

“Safe fresh water is a human right like clean air, yet more than one-fifth of the world’s people suffer without adequate clean water,” says Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., who recalls going down the Colorado just a few decades ago with his own father and seeing wide, sandy banks and animals that have since vanished. “My hope is that Grand Canyon Adventure: River at Risk will remind the world that restoring our waterways and conserving fresh water are important, not just in developing nations but here at home. The quality and survival of our civilization will depend on it.”