by Brianna Crandall — September 23, 2013—Global leaders gathered in Stockholm for the 23rd World Water Week during the first week of September, calling for strengthened cooperation over water, an issue that many facilities managers around the world have already had to grapple with, and which all of us need to do our part to help conserve. With the world’s population and economies growing fast while the amount of available water remains the same, collaboration over the Earth’s most essential resource is more urgent than ever, say the organizers, the Stockholm International Water Institute (SIWI).
Addressing the opening session of the World Water Week on Monday, SIWI Executive Director Torgny Holmgren said that “mortgaging our future by draining water from the ground, surface and sky faster than it can be replaced by nature is untenable and unwise. It will undermine the stability and security of our entire civilization. For the sake of the generations to come, we need to change the way the world uses water. We cannot delay.”
The world’s population is increasing rapidly, notes SIWI; by 2050, there will be 9 billion people on the Earth. However, the amount of water in the world will not increase. Unprejudiced cooperation and solid partnerships will be a prerequisite for successfully sharing and managing the water we have. The organizers say that we need to strengthen transboundary cooperation because water does not adhere to national boundaries, we need to build more and stronger bridges between the public, private and civic sectors, we need to learn not to waste water, to use less of it—in a more sustainable way. Most importantly, we need to make sure that every person on earth gets access to safe drinking water and sanitation.
Diseases caused by unsafe water, sanitation, and hygiene reportedly kill more than 5,000 people every day, yet despite these staggering numbers, the area of sanitation rarely receives the attention it so desperately needs.
Jan Eliasson, deputy secretary-general of the United Nations, urged governments, development partners and the private sector to work together to help change this. “Lack of sanitation has a direct impact on health, nutrition, education, women’s and girl’s rights, and poverty reduction. We cannot accept that 2.5 billion people worldwide lack access to a clean and safe toilet and that over one billion defecate in the open. I call on all concerned to do their part. No one can do everything, but everyone can do something.”
In over 100 seminars, workshops and events spread throughout the week, over 2,500 participants met under the theme “Water Cooperation—Building Partnerships.” They were encouraged to come up with innovative ways to move toward a water wise future where water is managed equitably and sustainably. Various awards were presented.
