World Water Day
World Water Day is celebrated on March 22 every year to draw the attention of people around the world to the importance of conserving drinking water.
World Water Day aims to warn and raise awareness of 2 billion people living without access to drinking water with a focus on supporting the achievement of the goals of the UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development (SDG 6): Water and Sewerage for 2030. Theme for 2022 are “Groundwater”, and this year’s campaign name is “Groundwater – make it invisible”. Groundwater is invisible, but its impact is visible everywhere. Out of sight, under our feet, groundwater is a hidden treasure that enriches our lives. In the driest parts of the world, it may be the only water people have. As the name suggests, groundwater is water that is found underground, and we find it in aquifers, geological formations of rocks, sand and gravel that contain significant amounts of water. They feed springs, rivers, lakes and penetrate the seas and oceans. Groundwater is mainly restored by precipitation and melting snow that infiltrates the soil. Almost all liquid fresh water in the world is groundwater. Life is not possible without her. It is used for drinking water supply, sanitary systems, agriculture, industry and ecosystems. Many arid areas depend only on groundwater. In many places, human activities overuse and pollute groundwater. Over-exploitation can lead to instability and subsidence, while in coastal areas seawater can penetrate below land. Groundwater is polluted in many areas, and remediation is often a long and difficult process. This increases the costs of groundwater treatment, and sometimes even prevents their use. Elsewhere, we don’t know how much groundwater lies below us, which means we may fail to exploit a potentially vital water resource. Research, protection and sustainable use of groundwater will be key to surviving and adapting to climate change and meeting the needs of a growing population. What can we do? We need to protect groundwater from pollution and use it sustainably, balancing the needs of people and the world. The vital role of groundwater in water and sanitation systems, agriculture, industry, ecosystems and adaptation to climate change must be reflected in sustainable development policy-making. What we do on the surface affects the water underground. Potential threats to groundwater quality are natural (geogenic) pollution and sources of pollution from land use and other human activities (anthropogenic contamination). The two most common geogenic pollutants are arsenic and fluorine. Natural arsenic pollution in groundwater affects millions of people on all continents. Therefore, groundwater quality needs to be regularly assessed and monitored. Anthropogenic contamination includes the effects of increasing agriculture, urbanization, population growth and climate change. For example, groundwater quality across Africa is affected by poor sanitary infrastructure and agricultural practices, leading to high levels of nitrate and microorganism pollution. In North America and Europe, nitrates and pesticides pose a major threat to groundwater quality. Namely, 20% of groundwater bodies in the European Union (EU) exceed EU standards on good water quality due to pollution from agriculture.
Regarding this topic and the topic of water quality in Zagorje, local waterworks owned by citizens and citizens’ associations, the progress of works on the Zabok – Zlatar Agglomeration project and the activities of Zagorje Waterworks, Zagorje Radio hosted the director of Zagorje Waterworks, Mr. Mario Mihovilić.