The Water and Sewerage Corporation  advises its customers  that due to routine maintenance at our Blue Hills station residents of eastern, northern and southern New Providence may experience low pressure and or no water between the hours of 12:00 AM to 3:00 AM tonight. The Corporation apologies for any inconvenience this may cause and appreciate your support as we work to improve our level of service.

Today, March 22nd is World Water Day. 

World Water Day day is an annual event observed by the United Nations to help give attention to the importance of water.  This year’s theme, ‘Nature for Water’ explores nature based solutions (NBS) to the water challenges we face in the 21st century, and is also the theme that the Corporation has adopted as we prepare to observe National Water Month in May.  The central message is that NBS, such as planting trees to replenish forests, reconnecting rivers to flood plains, and restoring wetlands, is a sustainable and cost-effective way to help re-balance the water cycle, mitigate the effects of climate change and improve human health and livelihood. 

The UN’s World Water Development Report  2018 states that by using NBS to help meet the water needs of a growing population, we will contribute to the creation of a circular economy, at the same time helping to protect the natural environment and reduce pollution – both key targets in Sustainable Development Goal 6, which commits the world to ensuring availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all by 2030.

Here are some key facts:-

2.1 billion people lack access to safely managed drinking water services.

By 2050, the world’s population will have grown by an estimated 2 billion people and global water demand could be up to 30% higher than today.

Agriculture currently accounts for 70% of global water withdrawals, mostly for irrigation – a figure which rises in areas of high water stress and population density.  Industry takes 20% of the total, dominated by energy and manufacturing.  The remaining 10% goes to domestic use – the proportion used for drinking water is much less than 1%

Today, around 1.9 billion people live in potentially severely water-scarce areas. By 2050, this could increase to around 3 billion people.

As estimated 1.8 billion people use an unimproved source of drinking water with no protection against contamination form human faeces.

Globally, over 80% of the waste water generated by society flows back into the environment without being treated or reused.

The number of people at risk from floods is projected to rise from 1.2 billion today to around 1.6 billion in 2050 nearly 20% of the world’s population.

Here in the Bahamas, despite some challenges of our own,  we have a tendency to take water for granted compared to some other countries whose water challenges are much more desperate.

How can we reduce floods, storms, droughts and water pollution?  By using the solutions we already find in nature. 

As the Corporation join others in observing World Water Day today let us pause and think of the importance of this precious resource and what our lives would be like if we had to do without it or if it were severely scarce in our country, and make a conscious effort to sensitize others on nature based solutions (NBS) as a means of sustainable water supply and sanitation.

For more information on World Water Day, check our face book page and while you’re there, ‘like us’, we would love to be your friend.

Released by the PR & Marketing Department

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