World Water Day is held annually on 22nd March to highlight the importance of freshwater and sustainable management of freshwater resources. It dates back to the 1992 United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED) which recommended that it is an important reminder to the World. The United Nations General Assembly then designated 22nd March 1993 as the first World Water Day.
This year, UN-Water has chosen the theme Water and Energy to highlight interlink and interdependence between water and energy. Energy generation and transmission requires utilization of water resources, particularly for hydroelectric and thermal energy sources. Conversely, about 8% of the global energy generation is used for pumping, treating and transporting water to various consumers.
Rwanda will join the rest of the World to celebrate the World Water Day on 20th March 2014 under the theme “Protect Water to sustain Energy production”. This comes at a time whereby Rwanda has been ranked as one of the top performing countries in Africa in achieving water and sanitation goals as espoused by the Africa Water Vision 2025, the 2008 African Union Sharm-I-Sheikh declaration and the Millenium Development Goals.
As it has been a common practice, Rwanda will also dedicate the whole week to water whereby several initiatives related to water management development as well as energy development will be launched and inaugurated. This week will also be marked by the following activities: engage communities in sustainable ecosystems for water resources protection and energy production, promote trans boundary basins cooperation for national solutions on energy production, launch some projects related to water supply, water conservation and raising awareness of the interlink ages between water and energy.
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