UN General Assembly had declared 22 March 1993 as World Water Day following the emphasis on the water’s importance at the UN Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED), which took place in Rio de Janerio.  World Water Day is held annually on 22 March as a means of focusing attention on the importance of freshwater and advocating for the sustainable management of freshwater resources. IKV Chairman Ayhan Zeytinoğlu has made a press statement on the occasion of 22 March World Water Day.

This Year’s Theme is “Nature for Water”

Chairman Zeytinoğlu underlined that water is one of the most important element of sustainable development and stated that it has a critical position for socio-economic development, healthy ecosystems and human survival. IKV Chairman continued as follows:

“Although water covers three quarters of the earth’s surface, we have a limited amount of fresh water, as only one percent of the earth’s water is available for our daily water supply needs.

At the same time, global demand for water has been increasing at a rate of about 1 percent per year due to factors such as population growth, economic development and changing consumption patterns, among other factors, and it will continue to grow significantly over the next 20 years. The vast majority of the growing demand for water will occur in countries with developing or emerging economies, such as Turkey”.

IKV Chairman also shared the future statistics on the subject: “It is expected that, between 2017 and 2050, world population will increase from 7.7 billion to approximately 10 billion and more than half of this increase will take place in Africa and Asia. In the meantime, domestic water use, which roughly accounts for 10 percent of global withdrawals, is expected to increase significantly over the 2010-2050 period in nearly all regions of the world. When monthly variables are taken into account, 3.6 billion people worldwide are already living in potential water scarce areas at least one month per year and this could increase to some 4.8-5.7 billion in 2050.

Furthermore, water pollution has worsened in almost all rivers in America, Asia and Latin America since the 1990’s. If the pollution continues, deterioration of water quality is expected to escalate over the next decades and this will increase threats to human health, the environment and sustainable development”.

Turkey’s Condition

IKV Chairman Zeytinoğlu also touched upon the importance for the future of Turkey on the subject:” Contrary to popular belief, although surrounded by sea on three sides, Turkey is not a water rich country. As the amount of water per capita per year is around 1,519 cubic meters, Turkey is neither a country rich in freshwater resources nor the richest country in the region in this respect. TURKSTAT predicts that the population will be 100 million by 2030. In this case, it is estimated that the amount of usable water per capita in 2030 will be around 1,120 m³ / year. Since countries with less than a thousand cubic meters of water per capita per year are considered "water poor", this figure indicates that the country will come to the point of being water-poor. It is possible to predict that factors such as the current growth rate and changes in water consumption habits will have a major impact on this water scarcity. Moreover, all these estimates will only apply if the available resources are transferred without destruction in 20 years.  For this reason, we must use water more conservatively and consciously in order to leave better quality and sufficient water for future generations.