World Rivers Day, 2022
Today September 25, 2022, is World Rivers Day. Since 2005, every year 4th Sunday of September, World Rivers Day, is celebrated. In 2005, the UN launched the Water for Life Decade to create greater awareness among the world’s people to develop better care for Water Resources.
In continuation, the UN took the decision to celebrate World Rivers Day every year after a proposal made by the International River specialist Canada’s citizen Mark Angelo.
There is no one country without a river or a stream. Without the Water body, there would be no human settlement. Humans started settlement beside the rivers or in connection with the rivers since their arrival on this earth.
For human drinking, household work, bath, irrigation, communication, etc., basic needs have been fulfilled by river water since ancient. Humans very much depend on rivers or water bodies, and the human race is inextricably linked with rivers accordingly.
The rivers play a vital role in the World Water Cycle. The water evaporated from oceans, seas, rivers, swamps, etc., water bodies and from plants transpiration, etc., making the clouds.
Part of it is deposited on the mountains’ peak and most precipitates on the ground. Due to the rainwater runoff and the ice melting water from mountains, the rivers are kept alive and flow around the year.
No living beings live without water. There has no water on any of the planets except our mother earth. Due to this, there are no living beings except mother earth. Hence, it’s called Water is Life.
On this earth, the water ratio is two of third. Though this enormous amount of water is on the earth, the living beings’ useable water is negligible. Only 2.5% of fresh water is available on earth, and the human usable sweet water amount is less than 1% of the total. Out of 2.5% fresh water, 68.7% is Glaciers & Icecaps, which are out of human reach, i.e., at the north and south poles, 30.1% is groundwater, which humans can use a little. And only 1.2% is surface water.
Again, out of 1.2%, 69% are in mountain peaks as ice form, and in permafrost, 21% is in lakes where 50% is in Baikal Lake, 3% in the atmosphere, 2.6% in wetlands, 0.26% is in living beings bodies, and only 0.49% is in the rivers.
But unfortunately, we are polluting the water by dumping waste and drainage untreated sewage into the rivers. We establish factories and Industries or other establishments by closing or occupying the river course illegally.
Due to this, the rivers on earth are disappearing from the earth and narrowing, dying continuously. Humans’ drastic behaviors bring the earth to face successive deadly floods, draughts, cyclonic storms, earth sliding, etc., and human lives and their property are falling at risk of extinction.
These severe calamities are also ruining humans’ agricultural production and fish culture, bringing the earth to starvation.
Once upon a time, our country, Bangladesh, was riverine, and there were thousands of rivers, and about 90% of its land was wetlands. But over time, about 90% of its small river disappeared, and most of the wetlands are now dried.
And the large rivers are now mostly silted up and narrowing continuously. So, we have no time but to protect the rivers for the sake of humankind.
