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World Water Day 2025 Focuses on Glacier Preservation March 13th, 2025
Contributed by: Bishop Michael Pfeifer, OMI (Bishop Emeritus of the Diocese of San Angelo)
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In 1993 the UN General Assembly designated March 22nd as World Water Day (WWD). This observance is one of the largest international days. Each year the UN selects a theme for World Water Day, and the theme chosen for World Water Day 2025 is Glacier Preservation.
In this article I share much information from UN.org and UN Water. A glacier is a river of ice often covered in snow, slowly moving down a valley from a mountainous area, with its melting waters flowing downstream. The UN points out that glaciers are critical to the water cycle. They provide essential supplies of fresh water for drinking water, for sanitation systems, agriculture, industry, clean energy production and healthy ecosystems. We are told that glaciers are melting faster than ever before.
Perhaps it is a little surprising that World Water Day focuses on glacier preservation, as glaciers are believed to be thousands of miles away from where we live. But we are learning the important part they play in the bigger picture of the importance of water on planet Earth. Water Day is a day to remember that water is an essential element for all life on planet Earth.
First and foremost, on Water Day we should thank our loving God and Creator for giving us this wonderful life-giving gift. In the first book of the Bible, we read how and why God gave us the gift of water in His plan for all of creation. World Water Day is a time to ask how we can better appreciate and use the water we deal with day by day. We start in our homes, asking the question how are we using the wonderful gift of water, or sadly perhaps abusing and wasting this gift.
And we then look at the sources of water that are closest to us like ponds, rivers and lakes and what we should do to keep them safe and clean. Because water is necessary for all of us, we need to take strong action, individually, in our families, in our schools, in our churches, in all our communities, in our workplaces, and in all levels of government about how we can better protect and provide water for our lives, and for all people on planet Earth.
WWD is about accelerating change to solve the water and sanitation crisis beginning with the place where we live. As water is necessary for all life it is considered a human right for all people throughout the world. But sadly, on this World Water Day we are faced with the reality that 2.2 billion of our brothers and sisters on planet Earth live without access to safe clean water which has devastating impacts on the health and very life of whole societies. Some may ask: Why do people live in places without clean water? Most of these people do not have much choice in where they live. Many reside in the same communities they were born in – which they have called home for generations.
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World Water Day 2019: Leaving No One behind March 22nd, 2019
On this World Water Day 2019, billions of people are still living without safe water, says the United Nations. In a press release on the occasion the Vatican Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development notes:
Every year, the United Nations celebrate the World Water Day on March 22nd. Many institutions and organizations from different countries celebrate this event, in order to give more visibility to the many, complex, and often worrying water issues.
This year, the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development has decided through this Communiqué to support the celebrations that are taking place, since the theme chosen by the UN for March 22nd, 2019 is very meaningful and symbolic: “Leaving no one behind”.
We welcome with gratitude the Message that the Holy Father has addressed to the FAO for this Day, and would like to invite the Bishops’ Conferences and institutions addressing water issues to contribute to its dissemination. Read the full press release and and Pope Francis’ message at this link.
March 22: World Water Day March 21st, 2013
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. Designated by the UN, it is an international day to celebrate freshwater.
In 2013, in reflection of the International Year of Water Cooperation, World Water Day is dedicated to the theme of cooperation around water.
In February of 2013, members of the Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility (ICCR) held a Roundtable in New York on the Human Right to Water and Community Engagement. A gathering of companies, community representatives, investors and NGO representatives, the Roundtable was a successful beginning to a process of dialog around corporate impacts on scarce water supplies.
For information on the UN World Water Day events and materials, visit World Water Day 2013
To learn about the ICCR Water Roundtable, click here.
For Lenten faith resources on water, visit the Ecumenical Water Network of the World Council of Churches, which has an online compilation of biblical reflections and resources on water.
March 22 is World Water Day! March 22nd, 2012
Water is essential for life, and yet increasingly, both in the United States and around the world, water is becoming a scarce commodity. Once largely taken for granted, clean, accessible, affordable water has become a hotly debated and much studied subject.
We have a few things to share on the occasion of World Water Day that may be of interest:
- Bishop Michael Pfeifer, OMI of the Diocese of San Angelo, Texas has written a reflection on water from the perspective of the drought-stricken region of west Texas, which we gladly share here. The article has been published in the San Angelo Standard Times. (Download PDF)
- The UN Millennium Development Goal on access to water has been met, three years early! The goal was to reduce by half the number of people without sustainable access to safe drinking water. According to a report issued today by UNICEF and WHO, between 1990 and 2010, over two billion people gained access to improved drinking water sources, such as piped supplies and protected wells. The related goal on sanitation has yet to be met, but increased attention to this is encouraging.
- Corporations are increasingly examining their water use, measuring risk, and looking at the impacts on local communities and the ecosystems on which they depend. The Oblate Faith-Consistent Investment initiative has focused on water as a key issue affecting the poor, and is engaged in substantive dialogs with major US multinational corporations on the subject. Read the Statement of Principles and Recommended Practices for Corporate Water Stewardship developed by the Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility (ICCR).
World Day for Water March 26th, 2009
To underscore both the potential dangers of “water wars” in places that are home to 40 percent of the world’s population – and the promising opportunities for cooperation and development – the United Nations marked the World Day for Water on 22 March with a focus on trans-boundary waters and their management.
“The amount of water we have has remained constant for thousands of years, while the number and types of users have increased massively… population growth, urbanization, land use changes, and global warming … are creating competing pressures on this finite resource,” says UNESCO Director-General Koïchiro Matsuura in his remarks marking World Water Day. “As a result, the amount of water available for each person is increasingly unequal, and diminishing dramatically.”
This year’s theme, “Shared Water – Shared Opportunities,” aims to explore opportunities to build trust among countries as they manage their common water resources in ways that promote peace, security and sustainable economic growth. Some 900 million people lack access to safe drinking water, making them vulnerable to the water-borne illnesses that kill 4,200 children every day.
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