Guest Blog | Celebration of World Water Day in India
14/04/17 Filed in: Summary Document
This guest blog was written by AGWA member Pradeep Mohapatra, team leader at UDYAMA.
For the last two decades, UDYAMA has been celebrating World Water Day. This year the celebration ran from March 22 and continued through the end of the month. The objective is to create a sensitization among multiple stakeholders that safe quality water is at stake. It will be more critical to access due to several factors. Looking at global climate change, availing drinkable
water will be more of an issue the way it is deteriorating. The theme for this year’s World Water Day was “waste water.” There are two important and complex crises related to the theme: water poverty and ecological poverty. Each will be more complex considering the role of climate change plays on water.
There are a few points to highlight from the celebration, which took place at various locations.
Make wise water use. Do not waste water. Reuse, Recycle, and Restore water. Harvest water and refuse to add waste (solid or liquid) to safe water. That means keeping water clean from all forms of pollution/pollutants/adulteration/affluent.
Water is a connector. Water is not a sector.
It connects individuals to industry.
It connects communities to countries.
It connects below the soil and above the soil.
It connects sanitation, nutrition, and hygiene.
It connects development and it can create disasters for civilization.
Considering the gravity of the issues, need, and urgency, it is necessary to increase sensitization to restore, recycle, conserve, and harvest rain drops. Sensitization to sanitization is also important to immediate development for various places in the state of Odisha, India.
India will be open defecation free but mass defecation will be another threat to development. Otherwise, there will be mass contamination and waterborne diseases downstream. For water regulation, maintaining the water regime. Wastewater disposal in urban settings is especially important now as all urban encroachment continues and flooding remains a prominent threat.
This year UDYAMA celebrated World Water Day at various places and with various stakeholders (e.g., communities, youths, PRIs, and women leaders). UDYAMA celebrated with events in the most water stressed areas of Bolangir as well.
Following World Water Day celebrations, water ation in the month of March continued at Raghunath Samavaya Mahavidyala, Odagaon on March 30th. Mr. Arindam Dakua, District Collector and Magistrate Nayagarh participated as chief guest and took part of sensitization along with college professors, teachers, staff, and students of Raghunath Samabaya Mahavidyalaya.
A joint initiative of Dasapalla farmers, UDYAMA, community women leaders, PRIs, MABARD officials took place on March 31st. This was celebrated at HanaDiha, GP Kalashkhama, Dasapalla, Nayagarh. Mr. Jayant Kumar Samal, DDM of NABARD, participated in sensitization day during this month of action. Local Sarapanch elected bodies, committee members, CBO leaders, and women leaders participated also took part.