Since 1993, March 22 has been marked as ‘World Water Day' every year to highlight the importance of freshwater.
The event will be held via video conferencing, where the United Nations World Water Development Report 2021 will also be presented.
Here’s all you need to know about international day and its observance.
What is World Water Day?
According to the United Nations (UN), ‘World Water Day’ celebrates water and is meant to raise awareness about 2.2 billion people living without access to safe water. “It is about taking action to tackle the global water crisis.”
One of the main focuses of World Water Day is to support the achievement of ‘Sustainable Development Goal 6: water and sanitation for all by 2030.’
Why is it important?
According to the UN, one in three people lives without safe drinking water even today. By 2050, up to 5.7 billion people may be living in areas where water is scarce for at least one month a year.
Observance of the World Water Day seeks to reaffirm that water and sanitation measures are key to reducing poverty, achieving environmental sustainability and economic growth.
Theme
This year's theme is ‘Valuing Water’. The UN's website states that the value of water is "about much more than its price" and that it has an "enormous and complex value for our households, food, culture, health, education, economics and the integrity of our natural environment".
"If we overlook any of these values, we risk mismanaging this finite, irreplaceable resource. SDG 6 (Sustainable Development Goal 6) is to ensure water and sanitation for all. Without a comprehensive understanding of water’s true, multidimensional value, we will be unable to safeguard this critical resource for the benefit of everyone," the intergovernmental organisation added.
History of World Water Day
The idea of celebrating such a day first came up in 1992, the year in which the UN Conference on Environment and Development took place in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The same year, the UN General Assembly adopted a resolution declaring March 22 every year as ‘World Day for Water’, to be observed starting 1993.
Other celebrations and events were added subsequently. The ‘International Year of Cooperation in the Water Sphere 2013’ and the ‘International Decade for Action on Water for Sustainable Development, 2018-2028’.
Events and campaigns in India
Prime Minister Narendra Modi will launch the ‘Jal Shakti Abhiyan: Catch the Rain’ campaign on March 22 at 12.30 pm via video conferencing.
A Memorandum of Agreement will be signed between the Union Minister of Jal Shakti and the chief ministers of Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh to implement the Ken Betwa Link Project – the first project of the National Perspective Plan for interlinking of rivers.
‘Jal Shakti Abhiyan: Catch the Rain’
The campaign, to be launched on World Water Day, will be undertaken across India in both rural and urban areas, the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) said in a statement.
It will be implemented from March 22 to November 30 – before and during the monsoon season. The project is being launched as a Jan Andolan, or a people’s movement, to “take water conservation at grass-root level through people’s participation”.
The ‘Jal Shakti Abhiyan: Catch the Rain’ campaign is intended to encourage all stakeholders to build rainwater harvesting structures suitable to the climatic conditions and subsoil strata, to ensure proper storage of rainwater.