Aidan Cronin, Correspondent

Water is the essence of life. We need safe water to fuel our bodies for daily life, grow our crops and clean our bodies and hands.

Our industries rely on water to produce everything from food to clothing, our mobile phones, toys and cars. Our children quench their thirst with water after playing with their friends.

As we commemorate, World Water Day, held every year on March 22, we advocate the sustainable management of our water resources.

Marking World Water Day raises awareness on the 2,2 billion people living without access to safe drinking water. It is also about taking action to tackle the global water crisis.

World Water Day supports the achievement of Sustainable Development Goal 6: “water and sanitation for all by 2030” and this year the theme of the day is water and climate change.

The two are inextricably linked as changes to the climate directly affect the status of water in our environment and so see more frequent and severe droughts and floods.

Climate change is already significantly impacting our daily lives and that of children all over the world.

In Zimbabwe, already total precipitation in the rainy season has fallen and there has been an increase in both the minimum and maximum temperatures.

Zimbabwe’s continental interior location means that it is predicted to warm more rapidly in the future than the global average.

This year is the third in a row with lower than normal rainfall, causing water and food insecurity for a large part of the population.

As rainfall patterns have changed over time, so do climatic extremes such as the occurrence of higher intensity tropical storms such as cyclone Idai or the record-breaking heatwave last year, have demonstrated.

It is increasingly clear that these changes cannot be ignored and require urgent action.

Measures need to be taken to prevent and mitigate the impact of climate change and adapt to a changing climate, especially for those who are most vulnerable. This includes ensuring that the children of Zimbabwe are safe from malnutrition, food insecurity and water-borne disease outbreaks.

Climate impact on water availability and quality will see increased risk to safe water access. Climate-resilient water supply and sanitation infrastructure could save the lives of more than 360 000 infants globally who are now dying every year.

Zimbabwe already has elevated risks as can be seen from the 10 000 cases of cholera in 2018-9 and over 6 000 cases of typhoid in 2019.

These can be prevented through universal access to safe drinking water, sanitation and hygiene that plans for climate change.

To this end, the Government of Zimbabwe and partners made key commitments during a recent water, sanitation and hygiene Joint Sector Review meeting in Zimbabwe.

This covers the critical areas of improved governance and accountability, strengthening policy and regulation, and attracting additional financing required to increase the level of access to water and sanitation in the country. The review made specific mention of the need to mainstream climate change action into the sector moving forward.

UNICEF is supporting the Government through the installation of 50 community-managed piped water schemes using solar pumps. Not only do the solar systems reduce the use of fossil fuels, but they also reduce costs of operation and maintenance.

Community water and sanitation infrastructure that was damaged during Cyclone Idai will be rehabilitated using the build-back-better approach under the Zimbabwe Idai Recovery Programme.

Using more robust infrastructure designs, climate-proof technologies, and exploring the use of alternative water sources are examples of how communities can adapt to climate change.

There are different ways that climate change endangers the lives and futures of our children. We can and must take collective action to address these threats.

Everyone has a role to play — from policy makers looking at climate financing requirements to water resource managers who can explore ways to protect our water resources (for example, wetlands are effective and inexpensive natural barriers to flooding, extreme weather events and erosion as well as critical source of groundwater recharge for water supply) to individual people who can make informed choices to  reduce water wastage and contamination within the household.

This World Water Day, we must remember and cherish our most precious resource for the children of Zimbabwe and the world and take into account climate change as we plan how best to protect it.

Aidan Cronin is the Chief of WASH at UNICEF Zimbabwe