World Water Day
Context:
The United Nations is celebrating the World Water Day on 22nd of March in an effort to focus on importance of freshwater.
Details
- The day is celebrated to commemorate water and it tries to raise awareness about the lives of billions of people who do not have access to freshwater.
- The main focus is to initiate the achievement of Sustainable Development Goal 6: water and sanitation for all by the year 2030.
History
- The idea of World Water Day was conceived during the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development in Rio de Janeiro.
- The UN General Assembly adopted a resolution on March 22 and declared observation of World Day for Water.
- The day is further used to emphasise that water and sanitation measures are important to poverty reduction, economic growth, and environmental sustainability.
Water condition in India
- India is facing the challenge of lack of access to clean drinking water to billions of its citizens from past many years.
- The average annual per capita water availability has reduced from 1820 cubic meters in 2001 to 1545 cubic meters in 2011, and it can go down to 1341 and 1140 in the years 2025 and 2050 respectively.
- Due to variation of precipitation, the annual distribution of water across major parts of the country is below the national average and can be considered as water stressed/water scarce.
- A report had found that India has the lowest access to clean water near to home, with 16.3 crore people not having such access.
Control of water resources
Control of water resources comes under the state list of the constitution, where major control is exercised by the state government.