YOU would have heard time and time again that water is an important building block of life. It not only makes up most of our bodies but also create jobs as well as support social, economic and human development. In reality, we all need water to thrive and survive.

Although water plays a vital role in our lives, it’s often not valued, especially in countries like Guyana, where fresh water seems to be in abundance. However, the grim reality is that Water is in crisis, hence, why there is a special day designated to raise awareness on the value of fresh water and stimulate actions to address the many issues affecting fresh water. In 1992, March 22 annually was designated World Water Day by the United Nations General Assembly, however, the first World Water Day celebrations were held in 1993.

NATURE FOR WATER
Celebrated under the theme “Nature for Water”, this year, World Water Day seeks to explore nature-based solutions to the 21st-century water challenges. In an effort to improve livelihoods and rebalance the water cycle, nature-based solutions such as planting of trees, forests, restoring of wetlands and even reconnecting rivers to floodplains can be implemented.

This is taking into consideration that many of the water crisis being faced around the world is driven by human activities and their impacts on the environment along with the changing climate. Learning about the water cycle in primary school was not by accident, the water cycle plays a critical role helping countries to fight, as well as adapt to climate change which can have spin-off effects such as floods, droughts, food security and health issues. As the earth’s population increases rapidly and people continue to move to cities and town, water scarcity and pollution are becoming more prevalent.

HOW IMPORTANT IS NATURE?
Ecosystems form an important part of the water cycle. In an effort to achieve sustainable water management, the dependence of freshwater comes from a healthy functioning ecosystem. Ecosystems provide a number of services such as helping to combat floods and drought that are linked to climate change. The process of water purification provided by ecosystems helps in providing water suitable for drinking, industries, recreation and wildlife to name a few.

EPA PROTECTION OUR WATERS
The Guyana Water Inc. (GWI) is responsible groundwater, sewage management and control of pollution of potable water sources. However, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has oversight for the Regulation of new and existing developments as well as ensuring that SDG goal 6.3 and 6b are met. The major issues experienced by the Agency as it relates to water pollution as stated in the State of the Environment Report 2016 are:

– Changing land use practices;
– Surface waters are threatened by contamination from sewerage;
– Grey water;
– Agricultural runoffs;
– Mining; and
– Industrial wastewater;

During the wet seasons, susceptibility to contamination is higher as flooding allows for contaminants to reach homes.
While the Agency has been building capacity in a number of communities on water and sanitation, through the Environmental Authorisation’s process, the impact of development on Water Quality is carefully assessed and monitored. Now that you have learnt so much about water and nature, what will be your answer to the caption?

WATER FACTS
• 2.1 billion People lack access to safely managed drinking water.
• Agriculture accounts for 70% of global water withdrawal.
• Today, around 1.9 billion people live in potentially severely water-scarce areas. By 2050, this could increase to around 3 billion people.
Source: UNESCO (2018) United Nations World Water Development Report 2018

Join us next week to learn about the Environmental Protection Agency and Water Quality Management.

You can share your ideas and questions by sending letters to: “Our Earth, Our Environment”, C/O ECEA Programme, Environmental Protection Agency, Ganges Street, Sophia, Georgetown, or email us at eit.epaguyana@gmail.com or follow us on Facebook and Instagram.