World Water Day is celebrated every March 22nd to commemorate the relevance of this essential liquid. For this reason, the National Institute of Hydraulic Resources (INRH), based in Havana, held a meeting to discuss various issues related to the use of the vital fluid.
Cuba developed the hydraulic will and thanks to it numerous investments were made such as: B. Dams across the country. Photo: INRH
Although all social and economic activities depend to a large extent on the supply of freshwater and its quality, 2.2 billion people live without access to water of the required quality.
This celebration aims to raise awareness of the global water crisis and the need to take action to address it in order to achieve Sustainable Development Goal #6: Water and sanitation for all by 2030.
In this year 2022, the focus is on groundwater, invisible water whose effects can be seen everywhere. These are those found underground in aquifers (formations of rock, sand, and gravel containing significant amounts).
After feeding springs, rivers, lakes and wetlands, groundwater eventually seeps into the oceans. Its main source of replenishment is rain and snow, which seep into the ground and can be brought to the surface with pumps and wells.
Without her, life would not be possible. Most of the world’s dry areas depend entirely on this resource, which provides much of the water we use for consumption, sanitation, food production, and industrial processes.
Likewise, groundwater is crucial for the proper functioning of ecosystems such as wetlands and rivers.
For this reason, they must be protected from the overexploitation and pollution that currently afflict them, which can lead to the depletion of this resource, high costs for its treatment and regeneration, and even paralysis of its use.
Water is particularly scarce in many countries around the world. Photo: www.leisaal.org/web/index.php/lasnoticias/changeclimatico
The main theme of World Water Day 2022 is: Groundwater: Making the invisible visible, as water tables, aquifers and subsurface deposits are systematically neglected, polluted and forgotten, it is therefore imperative to give them the visibility they deserve and need.
Water makes up 80% of the composition of most organisms and intervenes massively and decisively in the performance of their metabolic processes; It also plays an important role in the photosynthesis of plants and serves as a habitat for the majority of living beings.
Call for proposals for Cubagua 2023
The INRH called for the international event Cubagua2023 to be held in the country’s capital from March 2225 next year, with France as a special guest country.
According to the agencies consulted, the fourth edition has as its main themes the governance of water and the municipal management of this resource and hydrographic basins.
The program includes an exhibition of technologies and products of the sector, a technicalcommercial symposium and the 18th International Congress of Hydraulic Engineering.
Engineer Antonio Rodríguez Rodríguez, President of the INRH, called for strengthening cooperation between countries when presenting the call.
Cubagua 2023 will address, among other things, the treatment and purification of water, its exploitation plan, the automation and control of utility services, the quality of the liquid, reuse and recycling, and the protection of wetlands and ecosystems.
About the author
Graduated as Professor of General Education from the Félix Varela Higher Pedagogical Institute in Villa Clara, Cuba (1979). He has worked for Technical Youth Magazine, En Guardia weekly, a central army organ, Escambray, CINCO de Septiembre and Granma newspapers. Since 2007 he has been a correspondent for Trabajadores in the province of Cienfuegos. He specializes in economic and agricultural issues. In 1999, in a journalistic capacity, he accompanied the second Cuban medical brigade that arrived in Honduras after Hurricane Mitch. He published the book Truths Without a Port (Cuban publishing house MECENAS). He has been to this Central American nation three more times in journalism roles, lecturing to university students, advising the media, and teaching journalism updating courses and workshops for journalists and communicators. Multiple awards at international, national and regional journalism prizes and competitions. He was awarded the Manuel Hurtado del Valle Provincial Journalistic Award (Cienfuegos) for the Work of Life 2012. He was awarded the Seal of Laureate awarded by the National Union of Cultural Workers (SNTC). Retains the professional rating of Exceptional.