In today’s media-centered day and age, it is easy to overlook the fact that hundreds of thousands of people still do not have access to clean water. In 1993, the U.N. designated March 22 of each year to be World Water Day. In 2015, the Sustainable Development Goals was created with the goal of ensuring that everyone will have access to clean and safe water by 2030.
The official World Water Day theme for 2017 is “Wastewater”. Wastewater, often containing pollutants, flows back into nature, harming the environment. Around 80% of wastewater is not recycled, so by bringing everyone’s attention to this major loss, the U.N. is hoping to encourage people to reuse their water.
The water crisis is still very relevant–in 2015, WaterAid reported that nearly half a million babies die in their first month of life every year due to unhygienic conditions (including lack of access to clean water). This staggering report is just one of the reasons why attention needs to be brought to water sanitation. By giving people in need access to clean water–and then the tools to reuse that water–we can decrease the number of deaths due to unhygienic conditions and the amount of wastewater.
Social media has made it easy to get involved with World Water Day.
The charity DROP4DROP uses major celebrities like Cara Delevingne to encourage people to post pictures of themselves making the “W” sign and tagging #W4Water. While this can seem pointless, last year’s campaign reached over half a billion people and prompted multiple businesses and organizations to team up with DROP4DROP and give people access to clean water in areas of need.
Social media influencers such as Ed Sheeran have already showed their support for this year’s World Water Day, and there is no better time for you to get involved too.
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