Every March 22 for the past 30 years, we have been reminded that water is an invaluable resource that unfortunately is still not available to everyone. The celebration of World Water Day was initiated by the United Nations with the aim of raising awareness of the importance of water to our lives, but also of the fact that 2 billion people today live without access to safe water.
The theme of World Water Day 2022 is groundwater
It is the water we find underground, in aquifers – geological formations of rocks, sand and gravel that hold substantial quantities of water. Aquifers are recharged with water mainly from rain and snowfall infiltrating the ground. Groundwater is invisible, but its impact is visible everywhere. Almost all of the liquid freshwater in the world is groundwater, supporting drinking water supplies, sanitation systems, farming, industry and ecosystems.
Groundwater is being over-used in many areas, where more water is abstracted from aquifers than is recharged by rain and snow. Continuous over-use leads eventually to depletion of the resource. In other places, we do not know how much groundwater lies beneath our feet, which means we could be failing to harness a potentially vital water resource. Groundwater is polluted in some areas. As the remediation of such water is a long, difficult and financially demanding process, it increases the cost of processing groundwater, and sometimes even prevents its use. What we do on the surface matters underground. We must only put harmless, biodegradable products on the soil and use water as efficiently as possible. One of the key messages of the World Water Day campaign is that groundwater must be thoroughly explored, analyzed and monitored.
Groundwater in the Plitvice Lakes National Park
Groundwater plays a particularly important role in the Plitvice Lakes National Park. It dissolves the limestone underground and then creates tufa barriers, waterfalls and lakes on the surface. Therefore, on the occasion of World Water Day, we have prepared educational texts, posters and a short film about how this invisible treasure becomes visible in our National Park. Traditionally, we will also hold workshops with eighth graders from local elementary schools about the importance of water and the need to protect it, with a special focus on groundwater.
We hope that all of this will help protect our groundwater so that we can preserve it for future generations.
