World Water Day 2005

Water is critical for sustainable development, including environmental integrity and the alleviation of poverty and hunger, and is indispensable for human health and well-being.

The United Nations General Assembly at its 58th session in December 2003 agreed to proclaim the years 2005 to 2015 as the International Decade for Action, "Water for Life", and beginning with World Water Day, March 22, 2005.  

The Water for Life decade sets the world’s goals on “a greater focus on water-related issues, while striving to ensure the participation of women in water-related development efforts, and further cooperation at all levels to achieve water-related goals of the Millennium Declaration, Johannesburg Plan of Implementation of the World Summit for Sustainable Development and Agenda 21.” 

The assembly called upon the relevant United Nations bodies, specialized agencies, regional commissions and other organisations of the United Nations to deliver a coordinated response, utilizing existing resources and voluntary funds, to make “Water for Life” a “decade for action”.

The first water decade from 1981 to1990 brought water to over a billion people and sanitation to almost 770 million. Much more still needs to be done. Safe water supply and adequate sanitation to protect health are among the basic human rights. Today, there are still almost 1.1 billion people who have inadequate access to water and 2.4 billion without appropriate sanitation.

For more information, please visit the UN site.