Why is World Water Week Important?

Let’s start with a few numbers to make the case.

● 844 million people lack basic drinking water access, more than one out of every 10 people on the planet.

● 90% of natural disasters are water-related.

● Every day, more than 800 children under the age of five die from diarrhoea attributed to poor water and sanitation.

Shocking, right? Well, there’s more. The global water crisis is a real and serious problem that only seems to be worsening every year. Even a water-rich country like India, which receives 4,000 billion cubic litres of rainfall annually, faces water crisis in multiple regions. And about 76 million Indian citizens lack access to safe drinking water. 89% of India’s freshwater resources are used in rural areas mainly for irrigation, which is also one of the biggest causes of water wastage in the country.

For example, India has 42.2 million hectares of arable land, which can be brought under drip irrigation. However, only 3.9 million hectares of land has been brought under drip irrigation so far.

And this is just for India. The scope of the crisis that the entire world is facing is beyond measure.

The World Water Week programme in its existence of 28 years has not only raised awareness about water-related issues but also adopted a scientific approach towards finding suitable solutions.

The World Water Week firmly believes that change comes from within. The event organisers have used various methods to make the event as environmentally friendly as possible -- to walk the talk.

● All food and beverage materials, such as plastics, water bottles, and food waste at the event are strictly recycled and reused, and all participants receive a reusable glass water bottle.

● Being an international conference, travel by airplanes is unfortunately unavoidable. The event organisers plan to offset this by arranging for biofuel-driven shuttles when picking up delegates.

● The organisers have created a new website to make the app more user-friendly to eliminate the need for printed paper.

In addition to this, the World Water Week also provides a way for people to offset their own carbon footprint. Learn more.

Each year, the World Water Week adopts a new theme to enable a deeper examination of a specific water-related topic. The theme for 2019, Water for society – Including all, is not only a reflection of India’s ongoing water crisis, but also sheds light on the global issue of water wastage. Sensing the need to create awareness about the country’s water issues and World Water Week’s unparalleled work in the field of water conservation, Network18 has associated with them as exclusive media partners in India.

In addition to partnering with World Water Week, Network18 in association with Harpic has recently launched Harpic-News18 Mission Paani - a people’s movement for water conservation.

Click here to take the Jal Pratigya and become a Jal Rakshak. The time to make a change is today!