Thursday 14 March 2019

Water is Life ……save water save life …..‘Leaving no one behind’


2.1 billion people live without safe water at home, One in four primary schools have no drinking water service, with pupils using unprotected sources or going thirsty. More than 700 children under five years of age die every day from diarrhea linked to unsafe water and poor sanitation. Globally, 80% of the people who have to use unsafe and unprotected water sources live in rural areas. Women and girls are responsible for water collection in eight out of ten households with water off-premises. For the 68.5 million people who have been forced to flee their homes, accessing safe water services is highly problematic. Around 159 million people collect their drinking water from surface water, such as ponds and streams. Around 4 billion people – nearly two-thirds of the world’s population – experience severe water scarcity during at least one month of the year. Over 800 women die every day from complications in pregnancy and childbirth.700 million people worldwide could be displaced by intense water scarcity by 2030.
 People are left behind without safe water for many different reasons. The following are some of the ‘grounds for discrimination’ that cause certain people to be particularly disadvantaged when it comes to accessing water: Sex and gender ,Race, ethnicity, religion, birth, caste, language, and nationality, Disability, age and health status, Property, tenure, residence, economic and social status, Other factors, such as environmental degradation, climate change, population growth, conflict, forced displacement and migration flows can also disproportionately affect marginalized groups through impacts on water.
Today, billions of people are still living without safe water – their households, schools, workplaces, farms and factories struggling to survive and thrive. 
Marginalized groups – women, children, refugees, indigenous peoples, disabled people and many others – are often overlooked, and sometimes face discrimination, as they try to access and manage the safe water they need.
Water is an essential building block of life. It is more than just essential to quench thirst or protect health; water is vital for creating jobs and supporting economic, social, and human development.  World Water Day is an annual UN observance day (always on 22 March) that highlights the importance of freshwater. The first World Water Day, designated by the United Nations, was commemorated in 1993. The day is used to advocate for the sustainable management of freshwater resources. World Water Day is celebrated around the world with a variety of events. These can be educational, theatrical, musical or lobbying in nature.
The theme for World Water Day 2019 is ‘Leaving no one behind’. This is an adaptation of the central promise of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development: as sustainable development progresses, everyone must benefit.  It relates to water as Sustainable Development Goal 6 (SDG 6) aims to ensure availability and sustainable management of water for all by 2030. By definition, this means leaving no one behind.
Safe water’ mean  is shorthand for a ‘safely managed drinking water service’: water that is accessible on the premises, available when needed, and free from contamination. Whoever you are, wherever you are, water is our human right. Access to water underpins public health and is therefore critical to sustainable development and a stable and prosperous world. We cannot move forward as a global society while so many people are living without safe water. In 2010, the UN recognized “the right to safe and clean drinking water and sanitation as a human right that is essential for the full enjoyment of life and all human rights.”The human right to water entitles everyone, without discrimination, to sufficient, safe, acceptable, physically accessible and affordable water for personal and domestic use; which includes water for drinking, personal sanitation, washing of clothes, food preparation, and personal and household hygiene.
To ‘leave no one behind’, we must focus our efforts towards including people who have been marginalized or ignored.
 World water day is to increase the awareness of people towards the importance of water in various field of life including the environment, health, agriculture and trade. By organizing variety of events and activities such as visual art, theatrical and musical celebrations of water, excursions to the local ponds, lakes, rivers and reservoirs, symposium at local, national and international level over water management and safety, educational events based on the importance of clean water and conservative measures, competitions and. The main symbol of the World Water Day celebration is the shape of water drop of blue color. Water services must meet the needs of marginalized groups .Regulatory and legal frameworks must recognize the right to water for all people, need to organize various awareness campaigns within community & children &  youths to work with nature , minimizing use of water, ground water recharge ,using waste water various purposes .rain water harvesting ,soil conservation ,plantation , More and more initiatives in schools and universities , educating people about the importance of conserving and managing water resources etc.
Anuradha Mohanty
Executive Director, PECUC

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