Valuing Water: An Elusive ‘Blue Gold' To Billions

World Water Day, observed on March 22 of each year, seeks to create heightened awareness of the global water crisis. Some 2.2 billion people live without access to safe water resources. It calls attention to the attainment of the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goal (SDG 6): water and sanitation for all by 2030.

In the Philippines, it passed almost unnoticed, as widespread concern over a new surge in COVID-19 infections brought on the imposition of additional quarantine restrictions more than a year after the pandemic outbreak.

On World Water Day in March 2017, San Miguel Corporation (SMC) announced its goal to reduce operational water use by 50 percent across its businesses, through measures such as water recycling, conservation, and rainwater harvesting, and to meet this target by 2025.

Valuing Water is the theme for this year’s observance. The inability to recognize and appreciate the full measure of the value of water is pinpointed as the main cause of water waste and misuse.