Water is not a privilege, it is a right.

March 22nd – International Water Day

During an average day of our lives, we consume about 100-150 liters of water for drinking and washing. This does not take into account the water consumption that we generate through our consumption habits or uses and customs that would multiply this ratio by several multiples. Now, from our consumer mentality and taking for granted many of our privileges that we have such as water, it makes us distance ourselves from how serious is the problem of the lack of access to safe water, which today is emerging as a global crisis through more than 2.2 billion people in the world. We live in the judgment of believing that what is not scarce for us, nor requires a large investment of money to obtain and particularly what is easily accessible, is something of which we can use without discretion or care. Because it is there; we turn on the faucet in our house and water comes out fit for consumption, we bathe without time limits at our pleasure, we consume food that requires thousands of liters for its production, everything that water provides us with for our comfort we have it at our fingertips. And I do not write this from the hypocrisy of pointing fingers at others, but rather from looking introspectively at my consumption habits and how conscious I am of this resource that, although it seems an abundant resource, for others it is an almost unattainable privilege to have.

What brings us this important day of awareness and presence on the current water issue? To begin with, it makes us realize that for more than 7 million people in Argentina, water is an unsatisfied right to which they do not have access. Yes, 7 million people a day struggle with one of the most important problems that plagues poverty, lack of access to safe water. Water is necessary, it is health, it is nutrition, it is growth, it is hydration, it is progress; water is LIFE. And a day like today invites us not only to reflect and broaden the perspective of this problem at the local level, but also to get into active mode to do what is necessary to take care of this valuable resource that we have, and at the same time to accompany from wherever we can those families who are going through complex situations to obtain water.

In my case, this call to action was what catapulted me 4 years ago to approach this awareness from action and from taking sides to collaborate from Thank you. I am committed, as well as from my personal possibilities, to know the problem in depth, to spread it so that more people take charge of changing realities and to put in plan all those necessary tools to develop programs of access to water together with the families and organizations that collaborate to alleviate this injustice.

Under SDG 6 (UN Sustainable Development Goal), we are dedicated to seeking to sustainable solutions such as plate or ferrocement cisterns, Australian tanks, or advanced technology filters, which make it possible to acquire and preserve the water in a sustainable manner. access to safe water through rainwater harvesting or filtering of well water contaminated with arsenic or heavy metals.

My mission as the one we pursue in Gracias. is to give identity, respect and value to all those families who live day by day with the problem of traveling kilometers daily to fetch water in buckets, or to consume water from rivers or ponds that are not fit for consumption, such as spring water that does not have the necessary filters to be consumed, to work together to carry out the greatest amount of solutions that we can solve and guarantee that this resource will be covered for life, at no cost to them. And we do so by recognizing the role we have decided to play in this problem, from the responsibility of being able to align efforts to achieve what the state cannot provide in vulnerable communities, from the pride that comes from being able to lend a hand to those who need it, but above all from the awareness of knowing that we are privileged to have water at our fingertips. And our struggle and commitment is to make this resource a right for all and not a privilege for the few.

Manuel Romero

President Grupo Gracias SRL – Fundación Grupo Gracias.