World Water Day, on 22 March every year, is about taking action to tackle the water crisis.In 1993, the United Nations General Assembly officially designated March 22 as World Water Day. World Water Day is coordinated by UN-Water in collaboration with governments and partners.

Water is a basic requirement for survival, often touted as the ‘elixir of life’, but at the same time, there about 2.1 billion people on this planet who live without access to safe drinking water, spending countless hours queuing, trekking to distant locations to fetch just a few litres of water. World Water Day is an annual event celebrated on 22 March, to focus attention on the importance of water, as well as throw light on the challenges of water access that the society faces even today.  

Spearheaded by UN-Water, a UN Body that coordinates the joint efforts of various UN entities, governments, and industries, this day is an annual reminder of the need to ensure global access to clean water, and the challenges associated with it.

Of the 70% water that is available on this planet, only 2.5% of it is fresh and fit for consumption. But the real issue is, how much of this is able to reach people? Sadly, 40 percent of the global population is inflicted by water scarcity, and this figure is projected to rise, even though access to clean water is a basic human right

Pollution and contamination of freshwater resources, improper industrial practices, and poor infrastructure and policy regulations are some of the major roadblocks to ensuring water access. It is alarming that about 1.8 billion people use a  fecally contaminated source of drinking water; this is the leading cause of more than 2 million deaths due to diarrhoeal diseases alone. The sad truth is that nearly 1,000 children die every day, due to preventable water and sanitation-related diarrhoeal diseases. More and more countries are coming under the ambit of water-stressed countries, with a majority of African countries facing severe water shortage and droughts. UN’s Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 6 aims to tackle this very challenge. It has several targets to achieve by 2030, chiefly encompassing equitable access to safe water and adequate sanitation facilities, and pollution reduction to achieve improved water quality.  This shortage can lead to severe outcomes- especially water and sanitation related diseases and adversely impacts both the people and the economy.

Answer Lies In Nature!

The first and foremost step lies in creating better infrastructure and water management practices to overcome the problem of clean water shortage.  This year’s theme for the World Water Day is ‘Nature for Water’, which strives to employ solutions inspired by nature, be it in treating wastewater or recycling water. Indeed, innovative solutions are the need of the hour to achieve sustainable water management.

At Claro Energy, we have been innovating in the field of sustainable agriculture and ensuring that rural agrarian communities have access to safe and affordable water, for agricultural and consumption purposes. We have installed more than 8000 solar pumps across 16 states of India, for drinking, irrigation and sanitation purposes. Our breakthrough innovation of Pay-As-U-Go Mobile Solar Trolleys enables affordable energy and water access to the most marginal farmers who lies in the bottom line of the pyramid.

Smallest Steps Leads to  Biggest Impacts

Devising a solution for this means that first we fully comprehend the gravity of the situation. Once we understand how people across the world are struggling to find sources for safe water, we will think twice before letting that tap open. At the individual level, we can do our bit by ensuring that we use water judiciously and curb pollution of the water bodies. Change begins with us and once we start taking care of small things and take small steps, bigger things will eventually fall into the place.

 

As they say, Every Drop Counts and each and every drop that we save may be finding its way to a world where everyone has equal access to clean water!

Written By: Vinita Srinivasan

Edited By: Priyanka