‘Water 2022' initiative aims to raise global awareness to conserve water

Company has launched its social media campaign in the first phase to educate the global audience

Dubai, July 17th, 2014: As part of its corporate social responsibility initiative, White Water Public Relations, a Dubai based PR agency has embarked on a drive to raise global awareness with regard to water conservation. The initiative was conceptualized in late 2012 and the sole objective of ‘Water 2022’ is to conserve water by spreading the message across the globe over the next 8 years. The company urges the residents of the UAE to conserve this precious natural resource and set an example for others across the globe. As per reports, the world population is expected to grow to approximately 8 billion by 2025, water withdrawals could increase by 50 percent in developing countries and by 18 percent in developed countries.   

“Water 2022 initiative wants to reach out to schools and kids at the grass root level since they would be the ones who will make the difference. How many kids when they get back home, talk about saving the environment?  How many parents or organisations think of demonstrating better methods to conserve water either at home or office? How many people know the importance of freshwater? The list of questions can go on forever.  The lives of majority of today’s youth (read as tomorrow’s future) are lost in the world of gadgets. If these gadgets are put to good use then surely this will do them a lot of good. However, that is not the case most of the times. So the question still remains.  Where are we headed?,” said Prem Ramachandran, Founder and Chief Storyteller, White Water Public Relations.

The ocean stores 97 percent of the Earth's water and the remaining three percent is freshwater that is found in glaciers and ice, below the ground, or in rivers and lakes. Of this three percent about 69 percent is locked up in glaciers and icecaps. Of the remaining freshwater, 30 percent of it is groundwater. About 0.3 percent is found in rivers and lakes. This means that the water source we are most familiar with in our everyday lives, rivers and lakes, accounts for less than one percent of all freshwater that exists on planet Earth. 

“This is a lesser known fact. ‘Water 2022’ volunteers as part of the UN-Water initiative have been educating the people about the importance of freshwater in UAE and several other parts of the world through social media platforms,” added Prem

The GCC countries have the highest water consumption in the world and sums up for almost 41 percent of desalinated water produced globally as per reports. The main focus and interest in desalination is aimed on coming up with cost-effective ways of providing fresh water. Desalination is one of the few rainfall-independent water resources along with recycled wastewater. Large scale desalination guzzles up huge resources of energy and expensive infrastructure, making it more expensive than fresh water from conventional water sources. This challenge demands conservation of water in the GCC regions which is of utmost importance and the fact that desalination of water is a very expensive process should be conveyed to the masses.  

“We decided to take this water conservation challenge to another level by harnessing the power of social media and through other on ground activities. We have reached out to people across the UAE, Singapore, India, New Zealand, Central African Republic, Germany, Vietnam, United States of America, United Kingdom, Indonesia, Philippines, Australia, Canada, Sri Lanka, Malaysia, Mexico, Mongolia, Mauritius, Bangladesh and Argentina. While interacting with people from across the globe, we found that very few people seldom do anything on a daily basis to tackle the water crisis. Water 2022 is currently in touch with people in Uganda where the main cause of death each year, is due to the unsafe drinking water and poor sanitation amongst local communities” explained Prem.   

“When there is a continuous availability of water in a country, there is bound to be tremendous amount of wastage at both the household and the corporate level. Although the authorities are doing their best to impart knowledge about water conservation, it is up to each individual in the family to change the habit and adopt a lifestyle that will encourage water conservation,” concluded Prem.