WATER: PROGRESS MADE, BUT IT’S BARELY ENOUGH
Today, March 22, 2021, marks the 28th anniversary since March 22, 1993 when World Water Day (WWD) was first celebrated across the world, courtesy of the United Nations Organisation (UN). WWD must not be confused with World Water Monitoring Day (WWMD) established in 2003 by America’s Clean Water Foundation (ACWF) as a global educational outreach programme.
WWMD aims to build public awareness and involvement in protecting water resources around the world by empowering citizens to carry out basic monitoring of their local water bodies.
World Water Day is observed on March 22 of each succeeding year by people and organisations worldwide – including all UN member states – to highlight the importance of freshwater in daily human life.
The day is used to advocate sustainable management of freshwater resources. The theme of each Water Day on a given year focuses on a topic that is relevant to clean Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WaSH) – and which is in line with the targets of the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goal No. 6: access to water and sanitation for all by 2030.
This year’s theme, for example, is simply ‘Valuing Water,’ whereby WWD will be used to celebrate water as being essential to life, as well as raise awareness of the burgeoning global water crisis on the back of the seemingly relentless climate change.
Indeed, water may mean different things to different people. But, by recording and celebrating all the different ways in which water benefits all living things in general, and human lives in particular, we can value water properly – and accordingly safeguard it effectively for flora and fauna alike.
Vital resource
World Water Day is, therefore, about what water means to all living things – and, therefore, how we can better protect this vital resource.
We stress the fact that the value of water is about much more than its price in shillings, dollars or whatever! Water does indeed have enormous and complex value for our households, culture, health, education, economics and the integrity of our natural environment.
If we overlook any of these values, we risk mismanaging this finite, otherwise irreplaceable resource. Therefore, without a comprehensive understanding of water’s true, multidimensional value, we will be unable to safeguard this critical resource for the benefit of every living thing
A report showed that “four million people in Tanzania lacked access to improved clean and safe water in 2020 – and 30 million didn’t have access to improved sanitation”.
Indeed, a 2018 government report said that “access to water supply had increased to 85 percent in Dar es Salaam, 80 percent in most Regional Headquarters, and 64 percent in many District Headquarters”. If nothing else, this shows that the government is working in the right direction in securing water and sanitation for its people. But, more still needs to be done.
Relevant issues to be tackled include – but are by no means limited to – water scarcity/inadequate supply; water pollution/lack of proper sanitation, and the impacts of climate change on this crucial resource.
Hence the dire need for us all to faithfully observe World Water Day in the best interests of all living things.
