March 22 each year, World Water Day is being commemorated. The international World Water Day is held annually across the globe as a means of focusing attention on the importance of freshwater and advocating for the sustainable management of freshwater resources.
The theme of World Water Day 2022 is “Groundwater: Making the Invisible Visible”. The theme aims to highlight how important groundwater is to our environment.
Water is a clear, colourless and transparent liquid that has no taste or smell, and that is required for the survival of all plant and animal lives. In the same vein, a large amount or area of either natural or manmade water such as lake, pond, pool, river, sea, ocean, and so on, can be referred to as water or waters.
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Water, which is as old as the world, is consumed as food by both animals and humans, and it is also required in various fields of endeavour or human activities including, farming, cooking, manufacturing, sports, bath, hand washing, brushing of teeth, laundry, sanitation cum other forms of domestic and environmental activities, just to mention but a few.
The functions of water in the body ranging from cell life, to chemical and metabolic reactions, transport of nutrients, body temperature regulation, elimination of waste or toxic substances, among others, are numerous and innumerable.
Water is a carrier that distributes essential nutrients such as minerals, vitamins and glucose, to cells. Furthermore, it removes waste products including toxins rejected by the cells through urines, sweats and faeces. It also participates in the biochemical breakdown of whatever we consume.
Inter alia, water has a large heat capacity which helps to limit changes in body temperature in a warm or a cold environment. It allows the body to release heat when ambient temperature is higher than body temperature. Most importantly, water is an effective lubricant around joints; it also acts as a shock absorber for eyes, brain, spinal cord, and even for the fetus through amniotic fluid.
Water is indeed at the centre of life. This is why nobody can live more than three to five days without any water intake. It suffices to say that its role in the body is not just important, but inevitable. It has succeeded in proving to mankind that it is the most important form of food among the six classes of food in existence.
Considering the agricultural sector; the absence of water would simply cripple the entire activity in the aforementioned area thereby terminating the lives of crops or livestock, as the case may be. Same is obtainable in the manufacturing industry, like the pharmaceutical firms, bakery and breweries, that requires water as one of the basic raw-materials for its day-to-day activities.
The positive impact of water on cooking and other household cum industrial works, is another factor that cannot be taken for granted whenever the societal importance of water is discussed. It’s noteworthy that without water, most other forms of food or diet would not be prepared or provided.
On the other hand, swimming, which is one of the most lucrative kinds of sporting activities in recent times, wouldn’t have been founded if water was not obtainable.
As it is widely noted that the significance of water to mankind cannot be overemphasized, it is also worthy to note that intake of dirty or impure water remains one of the primary causes of several diseases or infections such as, typhoid, diarrhea, cholera, dysentery, staphylococcus and other sexually transmitted diseases, experienced across the globe.
Without mincing words, statistics show that over sixty percent (60%) of death rate recently is attributed to consumption of unclean water as well as residing in an unsafe environment. We shouldn’t forget that accommodating dirty stagnant water such as gutters, pools, et cetera, in our environments or vicinities attracts mosquitoes, which remains the sole cause of a killer disease known as malaria.
According to the United Nations (UN) findings, 768 million people worldwide lack access to improved water sources while 2.5 billion persons have no improved sanitation.
As the global community commemorates the 2022 World Water Day, all relevant stakeholders and the civil society are urged to pledge to develop the policies needed to ensure that sustainable water and energy are secured for the many and not just the few as it is presently the case in Nigeria and other developing nations. In this regard, they should ensure that their respective communities are provided with adequate and safe water sources.
On their part, the various ministries of Water Resources and their Environment counterparts across the federation, ought to ensure that adequate and reliable boreholes are sunk in every community that is related to them and also endeavour to sponsor series of radio/television jingles to sensitize the populace on the unavoidable role of clean water as well as safe environment. The various Water Corporations are also expected to live up to the expectations.
Similarly, there’s equally an urgent need to monitor borehole drilling by residents in various quarters with a view to avoiding any future manmade disaster such as earthquake or what have you. People must be made to understand that improper sinking of boreholes, among other related activities, poses environmental threat to the affected dwellers.
Among all, the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) ought to, from time to time, endeavour to checkmate the activities of the various registered water companies. Also, it should not hesitate to sanction or close down any one that is set up illicitly.
Most importantly, in our individual capacities, we ought to endeavour to properly boil any water we intend to drink, and also adequately sanitize any stagnant pool of water within our surroundings as well as fumigate the said environments when necessary.
This action will guarantee purity and thorough sanitary, thereby boasting the safety and well-being of our bodies. To be forewarned is to be forearmed.