World Water Monitoring Day

Water is an absolute essential of human life, and every form of life that we know of requires it to exist. But water is also a universal solvent, collecting all the elements of its environment, and from there carrying it directly into our homes and bodies. World Water Monitoring Day was established to encourage and educate people on how to monitor the components of the water in their local area. Water pollution is a serious problem, and learning how to identify, take care of, and prevent it is more important with every passing year.

Learn about World Water Monitoring Day

World Water Monitoring Day aims to build public involvement and awareness regarding the protection of water resources around the globe by ensuring that citizens are empowered to carry out standard monitoring of their local water bodies. A simple test kit will enable everyone – both children and adults – to sample local water bodies for a number of parameters that will determine water quality. This includes dissolved oxygen (DO), as well as clarity (turbidity), acidity (pH), and temperature. The current sponsor of World Water Monitoring Day is Earth Echo International, and they provide all of the information you need to know on buying inexpensive test kits. The results of monitoring events are then posted on the sponsor’s website so that they can be shared with communities that participate from around the world.

You will probably want to know a little bit more about EarthEcho International and who they are! This is a non-profit environmental organization, which was founded in honor of Philippe Cousteau, a renowned oceanographer. His widow and children found the organization, which is run out of Washington D.C. Originally, the foundation was called the Philippe Cousteau. However, a dispute with Cousteau Society resulted in a name change.

You may be interested to learn that the initial date chosen for World Water Monitoring Day was a month later, i.e. on the 18th of October. This was in honor of the US Clean Water Act, which was established on this date. This act was enacted in 1972 by Congress for the purpose of restoring and protecting the water resources in the United States. Nevertheless, the date ended up being changed in 2007 because they wanted to encourage people to participate in all parts of the world, including where temperatures hit freezing conditions at that time.

History of World Water Monitoring Day

World Water Monitoring Day was created by America’s Clean Water Foundation in 2003 with the intent of being a program that reached out to people all over the globe to raise awareness of water pollution issues and get people to test their local bodies of water. This information is then intended to be shared through various resources, including the World Water Monitoring Challenge Website (www.monitorwater.org).

Take a look at the water coming out of your tap, for most of us this means we’re seeing water from a municipal water source that is monitored and treated against pollution and disease by government authorities. But how clean and safe is it really? While most of us believe our tap water to be safe, there are occurrences like those in Flint, Michigan that reveal that we can’t always trust even our city water to be completely safe for us to drink.

If you have a well, then you’re in a situation that’s both better and worse. Wells are especially subject to the changes in the environment and the things that get into our soil and groundwater. While they often draw from a much smaller reservoir and thus aren’t as easily effected by issues that may affect an entire community, they should be monitored more frequently just to be sure your water is clean and safe.

How to celebrate World Water Monitoring Day

World Water Monitoring Day is your reminder that it’s time to check your water. Testing kits are available from a lot of resources, including local hardware stores. If you live in the city, you can often get your water checked free of charge by calling your water company. Be sure to ask them for the results so you can report them on the many water reporting sites exist. This way your entire community can get involved in making sure everyone has access to clean fresh water.

While testing is an imperative part of World Water Monitoring Day, it is important to recognize that sharing your results is just as important. Once you have got your findings, make sure you upload the results to the worldwide EarthEcho Water Challenge database. If you do this, you are going to be joining more than 1.5 million participants from across the globe who have used this program to monitor the quality of the water in their local area. It is also a good idea to share your results across social media so that you can encourage other people to do the same.

It is also important to think about what the data from your water quality kit means, as well as looking at the various ways that you can take action so that your local waterways are protected. You can present your findings to officials at your local council, for example, organize a coastal cleanup, or work with your community on a project for steam restoration. The options are endless, and you will find a lot of other great suggestions online too. The Water Challenge Action portal at EarthEcho has plenty of them.