On World Water Day, we talked with Zeynep Aker, the founder of the SuCo water bottle brand, about the meaning of this day and what can be done about "Water".
Can you share with us the origin story of World Water Day?
As we all know, 3/4 of the world is covered with water, but these areas covered with water; 97% of it is salty, 2% is under glaciers. When we add global warming and desertification, access to clean water becomes increasingly difficult. March 22, World Water Day, is a special day that aims to raise this awareness. March 22 World Water Day is first declared by the general assembly at the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development held in Rio de Janeiro in 1992. The purpose of declaring the day, which has been celebrated with different themes every year since then, is to draw attention to the growing problem of access to clean water and to raise awareness for the protection of water resources. The World Water Council meets every three years to discuss the increasing water crisis.
Can you tell us about the theme of this year's World Water Day?
Last year's theme was "Nature for Water", and this year's theme was the theme that most deeply affected us as SuCo; “Leaving No One Behind”. The main focus of the theme is the fact that access to clean water is not a chance but a human right, and this fact cannot be met. Even though this issue is not considered important enough in countries like us that have access to water at all times, we can say that especially marginalized groups experience the biggest access problem; women, children, refugees, disabled people and many more. These groups cannot meet their need for access to clean water due to the discriminatory reactions and behaviors of the majority. So the point to be underlined this year is that we are leaving many people behind without realizing it.
How can we become conscious about water and what can we do on an individual level?
First of all, we must be conscious about awareness. I believe that we need to be open to learning and open our eyes. Just imagine, when the water is cut off one day, we become paralyzed. We see access to water as guaranteed so much that we cannot imagine that one day, not even a drop of water will flow from the tap. There are many valuable NGOs working on access to clean water. Supporting projects is one of the first steps that can be taken, followed by changing daily habits. Not wasting water, not running the dishwasher/washing machine before it is full, staying away from any industry with the word "fast" in the beginning (fast food and fast fashion also consume serious amounts of water!), making use of every water (such as cooling the water you boiled vegetables in and pouring it on the plants) and disposable water. Removing waste from our lives.
As SuCo, where can you achieve this awareness in Turkey?
We are careful to communicate and show branding on the issues of "access to clean water", "water consumption" and "sustainability" on #SuCoBlog and our social media accounts. We share documentaries, TED talks, and trainings that can raise awareness. Since SuCo was founded in 2016, our most cherished dream as a team was to carry out a water well project in Africa. This is one of the reasons why this year's theme of World Water Day affects us deeply, because we think that "access to clean water is a right and freedom", and this is exactly the point where we started our project. We aim to open our well that will provide clean water to 10 - 12 houses in Zanzibar, Tanzania, in June with the Smart Village project of Sezi Kalkavan and Idea Universal, in which we will invest the income of Aquatic SuCo.