Did you Know that March 22nd is
World Water Day?
Nearly 60% of our bodies and around 70% of our planet are water. As a necessity for life on our planet, it should go without saying that water is pretty important. And yet, many of us are unaware of the fragility of our water systems and some of the global issues surrounding water, and access to it.
World Water Day is an annual event held on March 22nd that raises awareness about the importance of freshwater and the need to manage it sustainably. The event was established by the United Nations in 1993 and has been recognized every year since. Each year a theme is selected as an area of focus to bring attention to a particular issue in the world of water. The theme for World Water Day in 2023 is to strive towards achieving the UN’s Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) #6: water and sanitation for all by 2030. Unfortunately, according to the UN, this is a goal that we are collectively far behind on.
Global Water Sanitation
The hard reality is that the availability of freshwater is becoming increasingly scarce in many parts of the world. According to the United Nations, over 2 billion people lack access to safe drinking water, and by 2025, half of the world’s population could be living in water-stressed areas. This makes World Water Day an important opportunity to focus attention on the urgent need to protect and conserve our freshwater resources.
While it is important for us to continue putting pressure on our world leaders to take steps towards creating a world with clean water for everyone, we must also focus on the small day-to-day tasks that we can do to promote the practice of ensuring clean water and sanitation for all.
This checklist was created in conjunction with the Water Action Plan as easy to implement to-dos for people across the world. You can see how others are taking more direct action on their Be the Change site here.
How about here at home?
Yolo County and Central California are both heavily reliant on water for agriculture, with the Central Valley being one of the most productive agricultural regions in the world. However, our region is also facing significant challenges related to water scarcity and water quality. Groundwater overdraft, recent droughts, and contamination from agricultural runoff are just some of the issues that are affecting our region’s water resources.
An immediate way that the Co-op can help combat these issues is by the continued sourcing of products from local, organic and sustainable producers, which can help to support more responsible water use and quality practices. However, by understanding the impacts of water use in agriculture and other sectors nearby, we can all can make more informed choices and help to promote sustainable water management practices in our communities. We can also support advocacy efforts aimed at protecting and conserving freshwater resources locally and beyond.
While recent rainfall to start 2023 feels promising in alleviating some of the drought-related stress surrounding our water supply, it is important to continue water conservation efforts and stay up-to-date with information on the state of our water directly from Yolo County.