World Water Day
Access to clean water and good sanitation are essential for our health, and World Water Day is celebrated on 22 March every year.
World Water Day highlights how important access to clean water and good sanitation is – for both health, quality of life and social development.
For many people in Norway, clean tap water is a matter of course. But it is not everywhere. Over two billion people still lack a safe water supply.
"One in ten people in the world still live without access to clean water," says Marianne Nilsen Sturmair, CEO of Engineers Without Borders (EWB-DK).
" It has enormous consequences for health, education and quality of life. Every year, millions – most of them children – die from diseases that could have been avoided with access to clean water and sanitation.
The UN's sixth Sustainable Development Goal on "clean water and sanitation". Engineering expertise is essential to achieve this goal.
Increase knowledge about water access
World Water Day aims to focus on how important it is to find solutions to problems related to clean drinking water and proper toilet and sanitation conditions in the world.
We take having clean water in the tap almost as a matter of course in Norway. We should definitely highlight how good the engineers and waterworks workers are doing for our lives. They ensure that we have sufficient water of good quality in the taps, and deserve a big thank you from all of us.
Especially during the pandemic, we have seen how important safe sources of drinking water can be to avoid disease and infection.
But this is not the case for everyone. The struggle for scarce water resources currently affects two billion people.
- One in ten people in the world still live without access to clean water. It has enormous consequences for health, education and quality of life, and every year millions of people die - most of them children - due to lack of clean water and good sanitation," says Marianne Nilsen Sturmair, CEO of Engineers Without Borders (EWB).
"In wars and disasters, the destruction of water supplies is perhaps what has the most devastating effect on a society," she adds.
Engineers contribute to clean water
Ever since IUG started in 2011, NITO has been an active supporter. Several of the people who started EWB-DK were employees and union representatives in the organization. NITO contributes every year with financial support to EWB-DK and their important work.
In addition, NITO's cooperation agreement with EWB-DK includes an earmarked grant for "Master's with meaning", which is specially adapted for members of NITO Students.
According to Sturmair, the support means a lot to EWB-DK, which is a small organization that depends on partners and donors to be able to carry out good projects and assignments.
- In many of the countries where EWB-DK works, water problems are part of several long-term challenges. We are therefore working to ensure water quality, access to clean water and water storage to ensure an adequate water supply throughout the year.
- The UN's Sustainable Development Goal number six commits the countries of the world to ensure that everyone has access to clean drinking water by 2030, and in EWB-DK Norway we contribute to this through humanitarian engineering efforts, she concludes.
