APPEAL OF THE DIRECTOR, DEPARTMENT OF ENVIRONMENT FOR WORLD WATER DAY, MARCH 22, 2019
2019 Theme: ‘Leaving no one behind’
World Water Day is celebrated on 22nd March 2019. 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 through which everyone will be benefited.
In Sustainable Development Goal 6 is crystal clear: Water for all by 2030, It means leaving no one behind. But today, billions of people are still living without safe water at their households, schools, workplaces, farms and factories. People are struggling to survive. 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.
Key facts:
v 2.1 billion People live without safe water at home.
v One in four primary schools have no drinking water service, with pupils using unprotected sources or stay thirsty.
v More than 700 children under five years of age die every day from diarrhoea due to unsafe water and poor sanitation.
v Globally, 80% of the people use unsafe and unprotected water sources live in rural areas.
v Around 159 million people collect their drinking water from surface water, such as ponds and streams.
v 700 million people worldwide could be displaced by intense water scarcity by 2030.
This World Water Day, 22nd March, is about tackling the water crisis by addressing the reasons why so many people are being left behind and 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.
On this day, I urge everyone to share their ideas and participate in awareness programmes, competitions that are organized across the week in urban as well as rural areas in order to raise awareness among people about water issues. Schools as well as colleges also tend to organize special events and competitions on this theme in order to promote water management practices in the next generation.
Director of Environment