Sept. 24, 2003 -- The world's supply of clean, useable water is a product of the global hydrologic cycle. Life and health are at stake in many parts of the world where the quality of water is diminished by lack of understanding, inadequate resources or misuse.
In other parts of the world, commerce and recreation are the most significant impacts. Since the world's water supply is constantly recycled through natural processes over vast geographic expanses, water quality truly becomes a worldwide issue.
For this reason, America's Clean Water Foundation and the International Water Association are inviting citizens and organizations from around the globe to share in the experience of water quality monitoring on World Water Monitoring Day 2003.
World Water Monitoring Day serves as a global educational platform for watershed leaders, educators and trained volunteers to help those who are less experienced better understand how the actions of individuals in a watershed can impact many others.
From September 18 to October 18, citizens throughout the world community will have an opportunity to monitor the quality of their local watersheds and enter the results of their efforts into an international database. Then, on October 18, we will celebrate World Water Monitoring Day together.
While the actions taken over such a short time cannot solve the water quality problems that exist in many locations, they can contribute to the efforts already underway to change the practices and attitudes that impact the health of each watershed.
Over time, working together to further education can lead to changes that reduce negative impacts in the waters. The task could be daunting, but the collective efforts of the world's citizens begin with each person making a commitment to help. World Water Monitoring Day will be the first step for many who have never considered taking part in water quality protection before.
This was evident last year when over 75,000 people across the United States took part in National Water Monitoring Day in 2002. They participated in water quality monitoring, educational outreach opportunities and water festivals. Over 5,150 monitoring sites were registered across the country as citizens, volunteer monitors and government officials joined together as they followed through with testing on over 70% of the sites initially registered.
ACWF launched this event on October 18, 2002 as an important part of the Year of Clean Water, celebrating the 30th anniversary of the United States Clean Water Act. It was quickly apparent that the event should not be limited to American participation alone.
The partnership between ACWF and the International Water Association was forged around each organization's commitment to clean water and their foresight in broadening efforts to include global outreach activities. This new website is still under construction. New information and web links will continue to be added over the coming days and weeks so please revisit this site often.
For further information, including the summary report for 2002, visit http://www.worldwatermonitoringday.org/ or contact Ed Moyer, World Water Monitoring Day Coordinator at [email protected].
