This week is the third annual Water Saving Week, which coinciding with World Water Day and aims to raise awareness and challenges people to see how water can be saved. Each day of Water Saving Week is themed around a certain topic, and has a challenge attached. Get involved at #watersavingweek.
The United Nations World Water Day, is on the 22nd March every year, it is about taking action to tackle the water crisis and focuses attention on the importance of universal access to clean water and the need to advocate for the sustainable management of freshwater resources. Today, 1.8 billion people use a source of drinking water contaminated with faeces, putting them at risk of contracting cholera, dysentery, typhoid and polio.
This year’s World Water Day theme is wastewater. Globally, the vast majority of all the wastewater from our homes, cities, industry and agriculture flows back to nature without being treated or reused. Therefore, polluting the environment, and losing valuable nutrients and other recoverable materials.
Instead of wasting wastewater, we need to reduce and reuse it. In our homes, we can reuse greywater on our gardens and plots. In our cities, we can treat and reuse wastewater for green spaces. In industry and agriculture, we can treat and recycle discharge for systems like cooling and irrigation.
By exploiting this valuable resource, we will make the water cycle work better for every living thing. This we will help towards achieving the Sustainable Development Goal 6 target to halving the proportion of untreated wastewater and increase water recycling and safe reuse.
Element Sustainability supports the charity Wateraid, an international organisation whose mission is to transform the lives of the poorest and most marginalised people by improving access to safe water, sanitation and hygiene.
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