Drinking water is vital, but it is still far from being available to everyone in the world. During World Water Day, all member states of the United Nations draw attention to the global water problem by organizing events.
From 16 to 22 March, people worldwide joined the World Water Run, a 7-day virtual run around the world in support of World Water Day. The WaterWorX parnters PDAM Sragen in Indonesia and Oasen in The Netherlands participated to mark the day of celebration and raise awareness on the importance of achieving universal access to safe drinking water.
The theme of World Water Day this year is #Water2me. In other words: what does water mean to you? According to Pieter Cusell, even though the answer may differ depending on the situation you are in, the common ground is SDG6: "The WaterWorX partnership between Oasen and Sragen is all about creating greater access to safe water supplies in Sragen. In Indonesia, still only about 30% of the total population have access to a safe water supply. Oasen supports the water company Sragen with the expansion of the drinking water network to low-income areas that do not yet have access to tap water."
SDG6 can only be achieved if water utilities worldwide improve their performance and provide service in a sustainable manner. Through mentor-mentee, not-for-profit based parnerships, Water Operators' Partnerships (WOPs) have proved to be a cost-effective way to help utilities help one another build their capacity and serve all better. Pieter Cusell explains that "since our collaboration, the leakage loss has decreased from 40% to 20%. This also means that the business operations are becoming more stable: there are fewer losses and the water supply is of better quality."
