World Water Day 2022 – making the invisible visible
Sustainability dominates the 2022 theme, with a special focus on groundwater
22nd March 2022, Today marks the 30th World Water Day. Birthed by the United Nations, World Water Day highlights the importance of freshwater, and the myriad of cultural, political and economic barriers to its universality. The theme for a particular year determines the agenda for the UN’s subsequent World Water Development Report.
For the last three decades, the world’s finest minds in science, thought leadership and activism have used this occasion to educate leading institutions on making this essential for human life a clean, accessible possibility for all.
Unsurprisingly, environmentalism has been taking centre stage in recent years, with innovative and envelope-pushing ideas explored concerning how we can sustain our world’s precarious water supply.
Groundwater
The dominant theme for 2022 is groundwater. The UN’s official tagline on the subject is: “Making the invisible visible.”
Despite its relative obscurity in freshwater coverage, groundwater accounts for an astonishing 99% of liquid freshwater on Earth. The UN fears upcoming scarcity has the potential to divide nations and drive them to desperation.
The International Groundwater Resources Assessment Centre defines groundwater as “…a vital resource that provides almost half of all drinking water worldwide, about 40% of water for irrigated agriculture and about 1/3 of water required for industry. It sustains ecosystems, maintains the baseflow of rivers and prevents land subsidence and seawater intrusion.”[1]
In their 2022 statement, the Centre also declared that groundwater would play an important part in the climate change adaptation process for certain ecosystems. They concluded that, as this crucial source of water is out of sight and out of mind for most, more must be done to combat political apathy before the consequences become too severe to ignore.
The undeniable role of business
Every year, World Water Day is a reminder that fixes for our problems are not found in a separate, distant political realm but a familiar, immediate one. Business will play a huge, central role in the oncoming years, as societies collaborate for solutions.
We have already seen the merging of sustainability with statecraft in the ongoing Dubai Can initiative, and Sustainability Magazine recently highlighted the unrealised potential for business in helping the UN reach its 2030 Sustainable Development Goal.
If you would like to learn more about Borg & Overström’s water access charity work, our commitment to sustainability in business, and innovative contribution to water filtration, please get in touch today.
