Water is an important building block of life.On the 22nd March every year, world water day is observed, which emphasises on actions to fight against water crisis. More than 663 million people today are living without safe water close to their homes, most people spend countless hours trekking to far sources and also coping with the health implications of using contaminated water. The World Health Organisation (2014) showed that more than 1.8 billion people use a source of drinking water contaminated with faeces, which put them at risk of contracting dysentery, typhoid, cholera and polio. Poor sanitation, unsafe water and hygiene cause around 842,000 deaths annually.
The 2018 theme focuses on how nature can be used to overcome the challenges of water. Damage to the environment, coupled with climate change, is driving the water-related crises we see around the world. Drought, flood and water pollution are all made worse by degraded soil, vegetation, rivers and lakes.
When we neglect our ecosystems/environment, we make it harder to provide everyone with the water needed to thrive and survive.
Nature-based solutions have the potential to solve many of our water challenges. We ought to do so much more with ‘green’ infrastructure and harmonize it with ‘grey’ infrastructure wherever possible. Planting new forests, rivers reconnection to floodplains and wetlands restoration will rebalance the water cycle and improve human livelihoods and health.
……………………..lets make an informed healthy decisions.