Today is World Water Day

Today, March 22, is World Water Day.

WHAT’S WRONG?

World Water Day 2023 is about accelerating change to solve the water and sanitation crisis.

Dysfunction throughout the water cycle is undermining progress on all major global issues, from health to hunger, gender equality to jobs, education to industry, disasters to peace.

Back in 2015, the world committed to Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 6 as part of the 2030 Agenda – the promise that everyone would have safely managed water and sanitation by 2030.

Right now, we are seriously off-track. Billions of people and countless schools, businesses, healthcare centres, farms and factories are being held back because their human rights to water and sanitation have not yet been fulfilled.

WHAT CAN WE DO ABOUT IT?

You and your family, school and community can make a difference by changing the way you use, consume and manage water in your lives.

Your commitments will be added to the larger-scale commitments from governments, companies, organizations, institutions and coalitions.

Together, these promises will form the Water Action Agenda, to be launched at the UN 2023 Water Conference (March 22-24) – the first event of its kind for nearly 50 years.

This World Water Day is a once-in-a-generation opportunity to unite around water and accelerate progress together.

Play your part by doing what you can. First, here is a quick overview of what the water and sanitation crisis actually means.

WHAT CAN I DO TO HELP ACCELERATE CHANGE?

World Water Day 2023 asks people to “Be the change you want to see in the world.”

Using an ancient story from the Quechua people in Peru, of a hummingbird who carries drops of water to put out a great forest fire, the campaign encourages people to do what they can to help solve the water and sanitation crisis.

There are three ways to get involved in 2023:

1. Learn

• Explore the water and sanitation crisis and read inspirational stories from around the world at worldwaterday.org

• Delve into UN-Water's Water Facts at unwater.org/water-facts

• Find out about the themes to be discussed at the UN 2023 Water Conference at sdgs.un.org/conferences/water2023

• Read the UN World Water Development Report, launched today, on Accelerating Change: Partnerships and Cooperation at unwater.org/publications/un-world-waterdevelopment-report • Look into the water and sanitation issues in your country or region.

2. Share

• Post World Water Day social media assets using #WorldWaterDay to generate debate and raise awareness – available at worldwaterday.org/share

• Create your action list – choose and share what you are going to do to help solve the water and sanitation crisis at unwater.org/bethechange

• Use the Global Goals tool to create and share a social media image of your photo with a note for world leaders at worldwaterday.org/share

3. Act

Every year, tens of thousands of people get involved in World Water Day in the runup to 22 March. Share photos from your activities using #WorldWaterDay. Here are some examples of things you can do:

• Make your commitments to help solve the water and sanitation crisis at unwater.org/bethechange

• Translate the action list at unwater.org/ bethechange into your own or another language to engage even more people in the campaign.

• Think about what water and sanitation mean to you and make an artwork, song or film as inspiration for others.

• Organize a talk in your school, university, community, office or organization to start a conversation on water and sanitation.

• Host a concert, play or sports event to draw attention to local water and sanitation issues.

• If you are a teacher or student, organize/propose a lesson on water or get the whole school involved in water and sanitation-themed activities.

• Organize a community clean-up of local streams, rivers, lakes and beaches.

• Visit a lake, wetland or river and learn more about your closest water ecosystem.

• Organize a photo contest or local exhibition themed on water or sanitation.

WHAT IS THE GLOBAL WATER AND SANITATION CRISIS?

When we talk about the global water and sanitation crisis, it can be difficult to visualize it. Facts and statistics are important but they can be impersonal and fail to motivate people to take action.

So, what would it look like if we applied the global crisis to a community of just 100 people? 25 people would have to collect unsafe water from a stream or pond, often far away, or queue for hours and pay a high price to a vendor. The water would regularly make them so sick they couldn’t go to work or school. Death from entirely preventable diseases, like cholera and typhoid, would be a constant danger.