World Water Day is observed every year on March 22 with an aim to raise awareness about its importance and conservation. The primary focus of World Water Day is to support the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goal 6, which aims to ensure safe water and sanitation for all by 2030.

2023 theme

“Accelerating the change to solve the water and sanitation crisis” will be the theme for World Water Day 2023.

The theme emphasises the necessity to take more aggressive steps to address the global water crisis and fulfil international commitments on water-related sustainable development goals.

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History and significance

The idea of World Water Day was first introduced in 1992 during the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development in Rio de Janeiro.

The same year, the UN General Assembly adopted a resolution and declared March 22 as World Day for Water and the observation of the event started the next year, in 1993.

World Water Day serves as a reminder to the world to take action to tackle the global water crisis. The day encourages people to help in addressing critical water issues, and coordinate various international activities.

Innovative ways for sustainable water management

Rainwater harvesting

Rainwater harvesting is simply the process of conserving rainwater by collecting, storing, and purifying rainwater that runs off from rooftops, parks, roads, open grounds, etc. for later use. Rainwater harvesting systems consist of various components like catchment devices, conveyance systems to transport the harvested water, filters to clean collected rainwater, tanks and recharge structures to store the filtered water.

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Aerators

An aerator is a small attachment device that either fits onto the end of a tap or it is inserted inside of a spout. These water-saving devices control the amount of water that flows through the tap and maintain water pressure by mixing air with water. This reduces the amount of water flow while maintaining the same effect of high-pressure water flow.

IoT Meters

Smart water meters enabled by the Internet of Things (IoT) help water consumers to track their exact water usage and control it as per demand.

These water meters help reduce water loss and allow the water distribution network utilities to track and manage the demand for water.

Some IoT-enabled water meters also help in testing the quality of water and detect if there are any pollutants present in water.

(Edited by : Sudarsanan Mani)