World Water Day 2022
World Water Day is celebrated on the 22nd March every year. Started in 1993 and coordinated by UN-Water, World Water Day raises awareness of 2 billion people living without access to safe water. Its core focus is to support achievement of Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 6: water and sanitation for all by 2030.
The theme of this year’s World Water Day is groundwater. We hope that you will find time to celebrate the most important element that ensures our survival, while reflecting on the critical importance of groundwater as climate change gets worse.
Recharged mainly from rain and snowfall infiltrating the ground, groundwater is found underground in aquifers and it feeds springs, rivers, lakes and wetlands. It is a precious resource and we need to manage it sustainably. Almost all freshwater is ground water that supports drinking water suppliers, sanitation systems, farming and industry, as well as ecosystems. According to new research by WaterAid and the British Geological Survey there is enough water under the continent of Africa for most countries to survive at least five years of drought, but it would also contribute to global sea levels rising, one of the problems already linked to Climate Change.
Groundwater crosses borders and most of the world’s aquifers are transboundary which means that vast majority of countries share groundwater resources.1 Unfortunately, groundwater resources are poorly regulated and good groundwater management is required to conserve freshwater ecosystems. For a UK example, you can listen to BBC’s Costing the Earth program “Dark Waters”: https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m00159zr
The importance of keeping groundwater protected from pollutants such as fertilizers and pesticides and the need to use it sustainably become even more critical in the face of population growth and economic development. It is expected that world population will reach 9 billion people by 2050 which will lead to 60% increase in food production and agriculture is already the largest consumer of the world’s freshwater resources.
The UN World Water Development Report 2022 “Groundwater – making the invisible visible” was launched on 21 March 2022 at the opening ceremony of the 9th World Water Forum in Dakar, Senegal. This report gives an insight into the main trends concerning the state, use and management of freshwater and sanitation and is used to make recommendations to policy makers. It also sets out the theme for a range of key events and campaigning activities throughout the year.