One of the essential elements of earth, water is the prime necessity of life. All living animals and plants cease to exist without it. Hence, the proverb says, “Water is life”. However, with the increasing industrialisation, over-use, and exploitation of all-natural sources, human life is facing some questionable situations such as acute water shortage.
As water is an essential building block of existence, each year March 22 is celebrated as World Water Day to raise public awareness about the significance of fresh water and sustainable management of this significant resource. On this occasion, let’s take a look at this year’s theme, history, and significance of World Water Day.
World Water Day: Theme
‘Groundwater: Making The Invisible Visible’ is the theme of World Water Day 2022, proposed by IGRAC. It will be presented at the opening session of the 9th World Water Forum in Dakar, Senegal on 21st March 2022.
World Water Day: History
Officially the idea of World Water Day was a resolution adopted by the UN General Assembly conference on Environmental and Development in Rio De Janeiro in 1992. It was then that the United Nations General Assembly adopted a resolution stating that every year, March 22 will be marked as World Water Day starting 1993.
And since 1993, this day has continued as an annual event to increase community awareness about understanding the importance of water conservation.
World Water Day: Significance
Approximately 99% of all liquid freshwater on earth, groundwater provides societies with a huge number of benefits and opportunities. But experts say due to anthropogenic hazards major water depletion and pollution are now affecting the life and livelihood of billions of people. So, in the context of growing scarcity, the rich groundwater which contributes to the regular use of water for domestic use by the global population can no longer be overlooked.
For that reason, every year, this World Water Day is promoted globally by UN agencies to stimulate people across the world by organising promotional activities to encourage the people, make them address the critical water issues, and also coordinate with the international activities. According to the United Nations (UN) website, the main purpose of this day is to “support the achievement of sustainable development goal (SDG) 6: water and sanitation for all by 2030.”
