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Background
National Water campaign is seen as an awareness week
which serves as a powerful campaign mechanism re-iterating the value
of water, the need for sustainable management of this scarce
resource and the role water plays in eradicating poverty and
under-development in South Africa.
Vision of the campaign
The campaign seeks to continue building on the
ongoing awareness creation within the broader South African
community. This awareness creation is coupled with the
responsibility that every citizen must take in ensuring the
integrity of our water resources and its efficient use.
Particularly, the linkages between water services, supply, resource
management, poverty eradication, social and economic development are
emphasised in a number of innovative ways.
The proposed annual campaign has been influenced
by local needs and international sectoral trends. The envisaged
celebrations intends contributing towards achieving the following:
- Increased awareness of the processes towards
realising the constitutional right of all South Africans to have
access to water
- Building on existing campaigns around
sanitation and hygiene (particularly the WASH campaign)
- Ensuring that the cleanliness and the integrity
of our water sources and outlets is maintained
- Ensuring the long term sustainability of our
water resources
- Highlighting the crucial link between water and
health with the objective of eradicating water-borne diseases
and, thereby, reducing child mortality
- Empowering communities, especially women, in
managing and improving their living conditions
- Highlighting the vital interdependence between
poverty eradication, socio-economic empowerment and our water
resources
- Developing an aware and responsible South
African society across the demographic spectrum
- Supporting the Women in Water Awards 2005
- Supporting the Baswa Le Meetse Awards 2005
(Youth in Water Awards)
- Celebrating Water as a source of life
Theme and related issues
The theme for the 2005 Celebrations is "Water
for life". The proposed theme has been influenced by local
and international sectoral trends. The General Assembly proclaimed
the period from 2005 to 2015 as the International Decade for Action,
" Water for Life", commencing on World Water Day, 22 March
2005. It welcomed the decision of the Commission on Sustainable
Development to consider water, sanitation and human settlements as
the thematic cluster in the first cycle, 2004-2005. National Water
Week 2005 will therefore be celebrated with activities in connection
with this proclamation.
With this theme the Department intends
highlighting the following:
- The role that water has played in improving the
social and economic lives of South Africans.
The following sub-themes will be highlighted:
- Access to basic water supply and free basic
water
- Reducing water borne diseases
- Sanitation - a vital link to health and hygiene
- Water's contribution to economic development
- Water Conservation
- Water for resource poor farmers
- Combating alien vegetation
- Ensuring the cleanliness and the integrity of
our water resources.
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