World Water Day Date in the current year: March 22, 2024

The idea of observing this day was first made public in Agenda 21, an action plan adopted at the 1992 Earth Summit (the UN Conference on Environment and Development) held in Rio de Janeiro. The first World Water Day was held on March 22, 1993.

Ten years after the first Earth Summit, Earth Summit 2002 took place. It resulted in the establishment of UN-Water, which has been responsible for selecting the annual theme and messages for the day ever since. UN-Water also selects the lead UN agency that promotes and coordinates international activities for the day.

World Water Day focuses on raising public awareness about the issues related to water resources, such as droughts, floods, problems with access to safe drinking water and basic sanitation services in some countries. The activities held on the occasion promote preservation of water resources and provision of access to safe drinking water in the countries where this problem is particularly urgent.

On March 22, the general public is encouraged to not use their taps throughout the entire day in order to save water. World Water Day has also become a popular trend on Facebook.