Introduction

New times need new solutions. The most important question of our present and future is how to deal with the water. The Water problem is global. There is no part of our planet not subject to it.

The International Water Conference (IWC), with the innovative approach to solving water problems, arose precisely to address the crucial issues, not been adequately resolved so far. Past gave us valuable positive experiences and good practice examples. Alas, our times cry for faster and longer-term solutions.

The IWC base is stable on scientists and experts in diverse fields, interests and disciplines, striving to point out a wide range of global water-related problems and to offer, hopefully, implement, lucid and comprehensive solutions.

The IWC IDEA is a Rotarian initiative. Rotary Water and Sanitation committees and workgroups animated and brought together the scientific and professional community. Those fundaments, and the active involvement of members of four Rotary Districts, are the core of our focus on continued and sustainable development, as seen and described by Rotary International, European Union and the United Nations. Besides those, we look with great attention at the documents and advice of the DG EC Joint Research Center in Brussels.

IWC adopted, as one of its goals, Number 6 of the 17 United Nations sustainable goals: Ensuring access to clean water and sanitation for all. Billions of people, mostly from rural areas, still lack these essential services, regardless of the substantial progress in increasing access to clean drinking water and sanitation.

Worldwide:

- One in three people does not have access to safe drinking water.

- Two out of five people do not have an elementary handwashing facility with soap and water.

- More than 673 million people still have no alternative to open outdoor defecation.

Pandemic has demonstrated the critical importance of sanitation, hygiene and adequate access to clean water for preventing and containing diseases. Hygiene saves lives. According to the World Health Organization, handwashing is one of the most effective actions you can take to reduce the spread of pathogens and prevent infections, including COVID-19. Yet billions of people still lack safe water sanitation, and funding is inadequate.

We support the UN “International Decade (2018–2028) for Action – Water for Sustainable Development”. Water is a critical sustainable development element and essential for poverty and hunger elimination.

The UN Member States expressed deep concern over the global lack of safe drinking water, sanitation and hygiene. The same problem is related to water scarcity and pollution, desertification, drought and climate change.

The Decade focuses on:

- the sustainable development and integrated management of water resources for the achievement of social, economic and environmental objectives,

- the implementation and promotion of related programmes and projects,

- the furtherance of cooperation and partnership at all levels to help achieve internationally agreed water-related goals and targets, including those contained in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

The IWC GOAL is a practical and usable summary of available science, technology and engineering to create tools that may indicate sustainable solutions to existential water-related problems. Global catastrophic events, the current pandemic and likes, are proof of the ubiquitous importance of water.