The Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries, Food and the Environment joins the commemorative events of World Water Day, which is celebrated today around the world in order to raise awareness of the importance of taking care of every drop of water and, therefore, promote the care and management of this basic resource for the future of the planet.
This year the slogan chosen by the United Nations for World Water Day is “The Nature of Water”, and aims to raise awareness in society about the need to seek sustainable solutions, based on nature, to face the challenges posed to water resources in the 21st century.
The Ministry joins the commemorative events planned for World Water Day and recalls that, despite the latest rains, the reserve stored in the reservoirs of our country is below the averages of recent years and that it is essential to make responsible and efficient use of a scarce resource such as water.
As for the events for this commemoration, different proposals have been organized throughout the country by the Ministry’s bodies linked to water: the Hydrographic Confederations and the state water companies, from environmental workshops to excursions, visits, competitions, school activities, concerts, etc.
The Tagus Hydrographic Confederation is going to celebrate this day with the youngest with two of its environmental education programs.
Thus, on the one hand, about 30 students from 5th and 6th grade of primary school are going to visit the Environmental Education Center of Cazalegas (Toledo) to carry out two educational activities dedicated to the commemoration of Water Day. With a workshop entitled ́The distribution of water in the world ́, children will learn that fresh water is a scarce resource in the world and that it is necessary to adopt solutions that seek to save and rationally use this resource. Likewise, through the workshop ́Uses of water ́ they will be made aware of the use of water, its lack, saving, etc.
In addition, the schoolchildren will visit the Tagus River Interpretation Centre and attend an analysis of the water quality according to physical-chemical parameters in the Cazalegas reservoir. Another group of schoolchildren from Guadalajara, in addition, and within the program ‘The river passes through your school’, will go on a route through the Hoz de Pelegrina to learn about the importance of water, rivers and their environment.
The Guadiana Hydrographic Confederation, for its part, together with the Official Conservatory of Music of Almendralejo (Badajoz), celebrates World Water Day with a concert for the care of water on the planet, which will be held today, in which an ode to rivers entitled “River of Life” will be premiered at the Carolina Coronado Theater in Almendralejo (8:00 p.m.).
The Miño-Sil Hydrographic Confederation will celebrate the World Day in the surroundings of the Barbantiño river (Punxín-Ourense) with the schoolchildren of the CEIP Virxe de Covadonga, who participate in the environmental education project “I like my river, teach me to take care of it”, which this basin organization is developing in several parts of the demarcation.
The aim of this initiative is for children to understand that water and river ecosystems are limited and that, therefore, the work of human beings is to conserve these resources. In addition, it is intended to promote respectful attitudes in water consumption, trying to transmit this knowledge and habits acquired in the family and school environment.
At the Duero Hydrographic Confederation, its president, Juan Ignacio Diego, will visit the Basin Control Center, located at lock 42 of the Canal de Castilla, in Valladolid, where secondary school students will be that morning.
From this space, 79,000 km2 of surface area are monitored, through 266 real-time measurement points: 162 gauging stations, 33 water quality control stations and 71 rain gauges in mountain areas.
The Ebro Hydrographic Confederation has prepared a special website in which they will talk about dissemination, planning and projects, as well as the end of the public information process of the Drought Plans.
During this month, CH Ebro has intensified its dissemination actions on water management in the Ebro basin, travelling to Navarra and La Rioja to hold activities with educational centres, organising educational workshops in the national final of the First Lego League and receiving students from the Master’s Degree in Water Science, Policy and Management at the University of Oxford (United Kingdom). who have come to Spain to study the example of water management in the Ebro basin.
In addition, once again this year, the CHE has launched a digital photography contest in which you can participate until April 22 to celebrate World Water Day, which on this occasion has as its motto “The Ebro Basin in images”, looking for the best photographs of any point in the basin. from its source in Fontibre to its mouth in the Delta, including, in addition to the Ebro River itself, all its tributaries, reservoirs, dams, lagoons, riverbanks, glaciers, etc.
In the Júcar Hydrographic Confederation, its president, María Ángeles Ureña, will attend today, in Alicante, a commemorative day on the occasion of the celebration of this World Day, organized by the Federation of Irrigation Communities of the Valencian Community (FECOREVA), and which will also be attended by the regional president.
The state-owned company Aguas de las Cuencas de España (Acuaes), for its part, plans to celebrate World Water Day with a variety of activities:
In Narón (A Coruña) open days are being held today at the Inxerto 2 storm tank so that citizens can learn about the operation of the sanitation of the Ferrol Estuary, whose works have been carried out by the state company with an investment that has exceeded 54 million euros.
In Zamora, a group of 50 people will also visit the Drinking Water Treatment Plant (DWTP) of Benavente and the Valleys, in Sitrama de Tera (Zamora), where an Acuaes technician will explain the complete process that is carried out from the nearby catchment of the Tera River, the treatment in the water treatment plant and the distribution through the more than 250 kilometers of pipes that complete the action. This group is made up of students and teachers of the Mixed Training and Employment Program “El Ferial” of Benavente, of the Mixed Program of Training and Employment “Fresnos Centenarios en el Real” of San Pedro de Ceque and users and volunteers of the Spanish Red Cross programs in Benavente.
The Mancomunidad de los Canales del Taibilla joins the celebration of World Water Day with the launch of the campaign “Water you waste today, you will need it tomorrow”, to raise awareness among the population of the need to save, making a more responsible and optimized use of such a scarce and valuable resource and that saving water should be a common practice in the Levant. not only during periods of extreme scarcity.
The campaign will be carried out in the press, radio and internet and, for its dissemination, the collaboration of all the municipalities supplied by the agency has been requested. The posters with the image of the campaign will be placed in all the offices of the MCT, as well as in its fleet of vehicles, in order to reach the maximum possible number of recipients.
