Last week, the World Water Day 2022 campaign was kicked off with the launch of the campaign website www.worldwaterday.org. The website makes available a factsheet about groundwater, as well as a set of promotional materials like a poster, videos, social media cards, logos and prints for t-shirts. All around the new theme: Groundwater, making the invisible visible. IGRAC is proud to be co-coordinating this year's campaign, together with UN-Water and UNESCO-IHP. Below are written the most important messages that will play a central role in the campaign.
Groundwater, making the invisible visible
Groundwater is invisible, but its impact is visible everywhere. Out of sight, under our feet, groundwater is a hidden treasure that enriches our lives. Almost all of the liquid freshwater in the world is groundwater. As climate change gets worse, groundwater will become more and more critical. We need to work together to sustainably manage this precious resource. Groundwater may be out of sight, but it must not be out of mind!
With this in mind, three sub-themes have been determined and for each sub-theme, three messages have been defined.
The hidden solution
- Groundwater is invisible, but its impact is visible everywhere. Our drinking water and sanitation, our food supply and natural environment – all these rely on groundwater.
- Groundwater is critically important to the healthy functioning of ecosystems, such as wetlands. In deltas and coastal areas, groundwater also ensures the stability of the ground and prevents seawater intrusion under the land.
- Groundwater has always been critically important to human society and ecosystems, but it hasn’t been fully recognized. Groundwater must be at the heart of sustainable development policymaking.
Protect and preserve
- What we do on the surface matters underground. We must only put harmless, biodegradable products on the soil and use groundwater as efficiently as possible.
- Human activities over-use and pollute groundwater in many places. In others, we don’t know how much water is down there. Groundwater is out of sight, but it mustn’t be out of mind.
- Groundwater needs to be used carefully and sustainably – but we cannot manage what we do not measure. Groundwater must be thoroughly explored, analyzed and monitored.
A changing world
- Groundwater will play a critical role in adapting to climate change, especially drought. We must protect and explore groundwater, balancing the needs of people and the planet.
- Climate change is being felt through water. In some places, there is too much water; in others, too little. In the driest parts of the world, groundwater may be the only water people have.
- Groundwater crosses borders, just like climate change. We must work together to improve the way we share transboundary groundwater resources, balancing the needs in a changing world.
Download promotional materials
For more information about the campaign and for all available downloads, please visit: www.worldwaterday.org.