• Say Only Three Per Cent Of Water On Earth Is Fresh
Following the importance of groundwater, the Hydrocarbon Pollution Remediation Project (HYPREP) and the Health of Mother Earth Foundation (HOMEF) have said water is a catalyst for peace, stability, and sustainable development around the globe.
The organisations, in separate statements to commemorate this year’s event, with the theme, “Leveraging Water for Peace,” said “it underscores water’s vital role in fostering cooperation, understanding, development, and peaceful coexistence among nations and communities.”
HYPREP’s Project Coordinator, Prof. Nenibarini Zabbey, noted that the project is under the Ministry of Environment. It is to clean up the polluted Niger Delta region, adding that water is a fundamental human need and a shared resource that transcends borders and cultures.
“It is essential for food security, sanitation, health, and economic prosperity. Access to quality water remains an issue for millions worldwide, exacerbating tensions and conflicts in many regions.”
He said HYPREP had taken bold steps towards enhancing communities’ access to safe water for various uses.
Meanwhile, the Executive Director of HOMEF, Dr Nnimmo Bassey, called for the protection of water to protect lives, saying the essence of “World Water Day is to raise awareness of the need to tackle the global existential water crisis.”
Bassey stated that only three per cent of the total water available on earth is fresh, explaining that only about half of the amount is accessible to people in the form of rivers, lakes and groundwater, just as others are stored in other ways, including as ice, and as glaciers.
According to him, people in the Niger Delta Region must wake up from their deep slumber and push for collective actions to save their freshwater and its ecosystems, stressing that with the massive destruction of water bodies by mining, oil and gas exploration and exploitation activities, it is imperative to call for the restoration of degraded water bodies and wetlands everywhere in Nigeria and by extension, Africa and globally.
Bassey, in a statement by the Media/Communications Lead of HOMEF, Kome Odhomor, stated that it is important that rivers, creeks, lagoons, and oceans are treated sanely and not seen as waste dumps.
He said: “This year’s theme, Water for Peace, shows the need to protect our water bodies with the understanding that lack of access to potable water is a harbinger of hunger and conflict. Valuing water must not be construed to mean that water can be privatised, but that the intrinsic value of this prime gift of Nature be respected and protected.
“Water is not a commodity for privatisation. We must treat our waters with respect because water is life and access to clean, the right to safe water to meet daily needs is a fundamental human right.”
