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
