03/22/2026
💧🌏World Water Day, observed annually on March 22 and led globally, is an opportunity to recognize the vital role that water plays in sustaining our communities, ecosystems, and economies. For Alberta’s eleven Watershed Planning and Advisory Councils (WPACs), this day reinforces the shared responsibility we hold in protecting and managing the province’s water resources for current and future generations.
The 2026 World Water Day theme, “Water and Gender,” highlights the critical relationship between water access and gender equality. Across the world, women and girls are disproportionately affected by inadequate access to safe drinking water and sanitation. Ensuring safe drinking water and sanitation is therefore not only a matter of public health and environmental stewardship, but also a matter of equity, dignity, and human rights.
In Alberta, the work of the Watershed Planning and Advisory Councils complements the province’s Water for Life Strategy. This strategy is built on three key outcomes: safe, secure drinking water; healthy aquatic ecosystems; and reliable, quality water supplies for a sustainable economy. Through watershed planning, collaborative partnerships, and community engagement, WPACs bring together municipalities, Indigenous communities, industry, agricultural producers, environmental organizations, and residents to advance these outcomes.
Across Alberta’s watersheds—from the Rocky Mountains to the prairie rivers WPACs work to support informed water management, protect aquatic ecosystems, and safeguard drinking water sources. On World Water Day 2026, we reaffirm our commitment to collaborative watershed stewardship and to advancing the principles of the Water for Life Strategy while supporting global efforts toward gender equality and universal access to safe water and sanitation.
🌟Read an article about Women at the Intersection of Water, Climate, and Gender Inequity here: https://www.nswa.ab.ca/whats-happening/news/post/women-at-the-intersection-of-water-climate-and-gender-inequity
