World Toilet Day 2022 – November 19

The United Nations (UN) World Toilet Day is observed annually on November 19 to raise awareness of the 3.6 billion people who lack access to safe sanitation.

• The theme for World Toilet Day 2022 is “Making the Invisible Visible.”

The global campaign for World Toilet Day 2022 focuses on “Sanitation and Groundwater.”

World Toilet Day

i.The World Toilet Day was designated by the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) on July 24, 2013 by resolution A/RES/67/291.

• The first UN World Toilet Day was observed on November 19, 2013.

ii.It celebrates toilets and promotes action to address the global sanitation crisis and contribute to the achievement of Sustainable Development Goal 6 (SDG 6): sanitation and water for all by 2030.  

iii.The theme for World Toilet Day is chosen each year by UN-Water, the United Nations’ coordination mechanism for water and sanitation.

iv.World Toilet Day was first celebrated in 2001 by the World Toilet Organisation.

World Toilet Day 2022

The World Toilet Day 2022 examines how poor sanitation systems spread human waste into rivers, lakes, and soil, polluting underground water resources.

• The key message from World Toilet Day 2022 is that properly managed sanitation protects groundwater from contamination by human waste.

Currently, the world is far from meeting the objective of SDG 6.2: to ensure safe toilets for all by 2030.

• At the “UN-Water Summit on Groundwater 2022” on December 7-8, 2022, in Paris, France, sanitation and how it protects groundwater will be addressed.

World Toilet Day 2022 – Events in India

i.Under the Swachh Bharat Mission (Grameen) [SBM-G], the Department of Drinking Water and Sanitation (DDWS), Ministry of Jal Shakti, has organised the “Swachhta Run” across rural India to commemorate World Toilet Day on November 19, 2022.

• The Ministry of Jal Shakti launched the SBM-G in 2014 to focus on sanitation and speed up efforts to achieve universal sanitation coverage.

ii.States & Union Territories (UTs) are directed to conduct the “Swachhta Run” at the Gram Panchayat level.

iii.The DDWS, in partnership with the National Informatics Centre (NIC), has created a dedicated e-module to monitor Swachhta Run activities.

iv.India already achieved SDG Target 6.2 for access to safe sanitation when the entire nation attained Open Defecation Free (ODF) status in October 2019.