22 MARCH
WORLD WATER DAY
https://www.worldwaterday.org
World Water Day, held on 22 March every year since 1993, celebrates water and raises awareness of the 2.2 billion people living without access to safe water. It is about taking action to tackle the global water crisis and achieving Sustainable Development Goal 6: water and sanitation for all by 2030.
World Water Day highlights the importance of fresh water. The day is used to advocate for the sustainable management of freshwater resources. The theme of each day focuses on topics relevant to clean water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH), which is in line with the targets of Sustainable Development Goal 6.The UN World Water Development Report (WWDR) is released each year around World Water Day.
UN-Water is the convener for World Water Day and selects the theme for each year in consultation with UN organizations that share an interest in that year's focus. The theme for 2021 was "Valuing Water" and the public campaign invited people to join a global conversation on social media to "tell us your stories, thoughts and feelings about water".
In 2020, the theme was "Water and Climate Change". Previous themes for the years 2016 to 2019 were "Water and Jobs'","Why waste water?" "Nature for Water", and "Leaving no one behind".
World Water Day is celebrated around the world with a variety of events. These can be theatrical, musical or lobbying in nature. The day can also include campaigns to raise money for water projects. The first World Water Day, designated by the United Nations, was in 1993.
On this day in history - 22nd March
238 Gordian I and his son Gordian II are proclaimed Roman emperor
752 Stephen II elected Catholic Pope (or 23rd)
871 Battle at Marton: Ethelred van Wessex beats Danish invasion army
1349 Townspeople of Fulda, Germany massacre Jews, blaming them for the Black Death
1421 Battle of Baugé - French defeat English
1556 Cardinal Reginald Pole becomes archbishop of Canterbury
1594 French King Henry IV festival in Paris
1621 Dutch jurist Hugo de Groot (Hugo Grotius) escapes in book chest from Loevestein Castle in the Netherlands
1622 First American Indian (Powhatan) massacre of Europeans in Jamestown Virginia, 347 killed
1630 1st colonial legislation prohibiting gambling enacted (Boston)
1638 Religious dissident Anne Hutchinson expelled from Massachusetts Bay Colony
1680 Parliament of Breisach accepts French sovereignty over Elzas
1692 Emperor Leopold I names Duke Earnest August of Braunschweig, king
1765 Stamp Act passed; 1st direct British tax on American colonists, organized by Prime Minister George Grenville
1775 British MP Edmund Burke makes a speech to the English Parliament advocating for peace with the
1778 Captain James Cook sights Cape Flattery, now in Washington state
1784 The Emerald Buddha is moved with great ceremony to its current place in Wat Phra Kaew, Thailand
1790 Thomas Jefferson becomes the 1st US Secretary of State under President Washington
1794 Congress bans US vessels from supplying slaves to other countries
1809 Charles XIII succeeds Gustav IV Adolf to the Swedish throne
1822 NY Horticultural Society founded
1829 The three protecting powers (Britain, France and Russia) establish the borders of Greece
1832 British Parliament, led by Charles Grey, passes the Reform Act, introducing wide-ranging changes to electoral system of England and Wales, increasing electorate from about 500,000 voters to 813,000
1841 A method for alkali starch extraction is patented in the US by Orlando Jones, which is later applied to corn (cornstarch)
1861 1st US nursing school chartered
1862 San Marino & Italy conclude treaty of friendship & cooperation
1865 Raid at Wilson's: Chickaswas AL to Macon GA
1871 William Holden of North Carolina becomes 1st governor removed by impeachment
1872 Illinois becomes 1st state to require sexual equality in employment
1873 Slavery is abolished in Puerto Rico, celebrated as Emancipation Day
1874 Young Men's Hebrew Association organizes in NYC
1888 English Football League established
1894 Stanley Cup, Victoria Rink, Montreal, Quebec: Montreal Hockey Club defeats Ottawa HC, 3-1 to win 3-team challenge tournament
1895 Auguste & Louis Lumiere show their 1st movie to an invited audience
1896 Charilaos Vasilakos of Greece wins 1st modern marathon in 3:18 at the Panhellenic Games
1903 NY Highlanders (Yankees) tickets 1st go on sale
1903 Niagera Falls runs out of water because of a drought
1903 US Anthracite Coal Commission, set up by President Theodore Roosevelt, submits its recommendations for shorter hours, a 10-per cent wage increase, and an 'open shop'
1904 "Bailundo Revolt" ends after almost 2-years in Portuguese victory over Ovimbundu kingdom & allies
1907 The new Boer government in the Transvaal passes an Asiatic Registration Bill, that restricts immigration from India
1907 69th Grand National: Alf Newey wins aboard 8/1 chance Eremon
1913 Song Jiaoren, leader of the Chinese Kuomintang Party, shot at Shanghai Railway Station, dies 2 day later (thought orchestrated by Kuomintang President Yuan Shikai)
1914 The St. Petersburg–Tampa Airboat Line becomes the world's first scheduled airline
1917 The USA is the first nation to recognize the new government of Russia
1922 The Rand Rebellion in Southern Africa, which started as a strike by white mineworkers and became an armed rebellion against the state, is brought to a brutal end by the police
1927 Federico Garcia Lorca's first play "El Maleficio" (The Butterfly's Evil Spell) premieres in Madrid
1928 Noël Coward's musical "This Year of Grace" premieres in London
1929 KIT-AM in Yakima WA begins radio transmissions
1929 US Coast Guard vessel sinks Canadian schooner suspected of carrying liquor
1929 88th Grand National: Robert W. H. Everett wins aboard 100/1 outsider Gregalach
1933 Franklin D. Roosevelt makes wine & beer with up to 3.2% alcohol legal
1934 Fire destroys Hakodate, Japan, kills 1,500, injures 1,000
1935 Blood tests authorized as evidence in court cases in New York
1936 "The Great Ziegfeld" directed by Robert Z. Leonard and starring William Powell and Luise Rainer premieres in Los Angeles (Best Picture 1937
1939 Lithuania forced to give Memel territory to Germany
1941 Grand Coulee Dam in Washington goes into operation
1941 James Stewart is inducted into the Army, becoming the first major American movie star to wear a military uniform in World War II
1943 Dutch work week extended to 54 hour
1943 Obligatory work for woman ends in Belgium
1943 Dutch SS police chief Hans Albin Rauter threatens to kill half Jewish children
1944 600+ 8th Air Force bombers attack Berlin
1944 American movie star Jimmy Stewart flies his 12th combat mission, leading the 2nd Bomb Wing in an attack on Berlin
1945 Arab League forms with adoption of a charter in Cairo, Egypt
1945 US 3rd Army crosses Rhine at Nierstein
1946 1st US rocket to leave the Earth's atmosphere (50 miles up)
1946 Britain signs treaty granting independence to Jordan
1947 President Harry Truman signs executive order calling for loyalty
1952 Dutch DC-6 crashes near Frankfurt, killing 44
1952 Wales wins Five Nations Rugby Championship, Grand Slam & Triple Crown with a 9-5 win over France at St. Helen's Ground, Swansea
1953 Antonín Zápotocký chosen as President of Czechoslovakia
1954 Northland Center, the world's largest shopping mall at the time, opens in Oakpark, Michigan
1954 Closed since 1939, the London bullion market reopens
1956 Musical "Mr Wonderful" with Sammy Davis Jr. and father Sammy Davis Sr. opens at Broadway Theater NYC for 383 performances
1957 Earthquake shakes San Francisco
1957 Republic of India adopts Saka calendar along with Gregorian
1957 "All Shook Up" single released by Elvis Presley
1958 20th NCAA Men's Basketball Championship: Kentucky beats Seattle, 84-72; Seattle's future Hall of Fame small forward Elgin Baylor is named tournament MOP
1958 Under pressure King Saud appoints Faisal Prime Minister of Saudi Arabia
1958 USSR performs nuclear test at Novaya Zemlya USSR
1960 1st patent for lasers granted to Arthur Schawlow & Charles Townes
1962 Musical "I Can Get It For You Wholesale" starring Barbra Streisand in her Broadway debut opens at Shubert NYC for 300 performances
1963 The Beatles release their 1st album, "Please Please Me"
1963 British Minister of War John Profumo denies having sex with Christine Keeler
1964 Barbra Streisand appears on the cover of NY Times Magazine section
1964 LPGA Western Open Women's Golf, Scenic Hills CC: Carol Mann her 1st of 2 major titles by 2 shots from Ruth Jessen and Judy Kimball
1965 Dudley Senanayake wins his third in general elections in Ceylon (Sri Lanka)
1965 US confirms its troops used chemical warfare against the Vietcong
1965 Nicolae Ceausescu is elected General Secretary of the Romanian Communist Party
1967 Muhammad Ali KOs Zora Folley in 7 for heavyweight boxing title
1968 Jarmila Novotna resigns presidency of Czechoslovakia
1968 Lynda Johnson ordered off San Francisco cable car for eating an ice cream cone
1968 Student riot in Nanterre near Paris
1969 "Billy" opens & closes at Billy Rose Theater NYC after 1 performance
1969 "Come Summer" closes at Lunt Fontanne Theater NYC after 7 performances
1969 31st NCAA Men's Basketball Championship: UCLA beats Purdue 92-72; Bruins' 3-peat; center Lew Alcindor tournament Most Outstanding Player for 3rd consecutive year
1970 "Blood Red Roses" opens & closes at John Golden Theater NYC
1971 USSR performs nuclear test at Eastern Kazakh/Semipalitinsk USSR
1971 Brian Faulkner becomes the Prime Minister of Northern Ireland
1971 6th Academy of Country Music Awards: Merle Haggard and Lynn Anderson win
1972 Musical "The Selling of the President" opens at Shubert Theater NYC for 5 performances
1972 US Congress approves the Equal Rights Amendment (still not ratified)
1972 Kareem Abdul-Jabbar named NBA MVP
1972 Nick Mileti purchases Cleveland Indians for $9 million
1972 Yankees trade Danny Cater to the Red Sox for Sparky Lyle
1972 In Eisenstadt v. Baird the US Supreme Court rules unmarried people have same right to contraception as married people.
1975 Netherlands' "Ding-a-dong" performed by Tech-In wins Eurovision Song Contest in Stockholm,
1975 "Dr Jazz" closes at Winter Garden Theater NYC after 5 performances
1975 "Letter for Queen Victoria" opens at ANTA Theater NYC for 18 performances
1975 AIAW Women's Basketball Tournament, Delta State beats Immaculata 90-81 in Harrisonburg
1975 Walt Disney World Shopping Village opens
1975 A fire at the Browns Ferry Nuclear Power Plant in Decatur, Alabama causes dangerous lowering of cooling water levels
1975 20th Eurovision Song Contest: Teach-In for Netherlands wins singing "Ding-a-dong" in Stockholm
1977 Indira Gandhi resigns as Prime Minister of India
1977 Dutch Labour Party (PvdA) government under Joop den Uyl falls
1978 France performs nuclear test
1978 Robert Frost Plaza, at California, Drumm & Market, San Francisco, dedicated to the poet
1978 Karl "The Great" Wallenda, German acrobat (The Flying Wallendas) dies after falling off a tight-rope between two hotels in San Juan, Puerto Rico, at 73
1978 The Rutles mockumentary "All You Need is Cash" debuts on NBC television
1979 Israeli parliament approves peace treaty with Egypt
1979 NHL votes to accept 4 WHA teams (Oilers, Jets, Nordiques & Whalers)
1979 Provisional Irish Republican Army assassinates Richard Sykes, the British ambassador to the Netherlands, in Den Haag
1979 The Provisional Irish Republican Army explode 24 bombs in various locations across Northern Ireland
1981 US 1st class postage raised to 18 cents from 15 cents
1981 Soyuz 39 carries 2 cosmonauts (1 Mongolian) to Salyut 6
1981 Toshihiko Seko runs world record 25k (1:13:55.8)/30k (1:29:18.8)
1982 3rd Space Shuttle Mission-Columbia 3 launched
1982 Iran offensive against Iraq
1983 Chaim Herzog elected Israeli president
1984 Islander Bryan Trottier ties NHL record scores 5 seconds into game
1984 Teachers at the McMartin preschool in Manhattan Beach, California are charged with Satanic ritual abuse of the children in the school. The charges are later dropped as completely unfounded.
1985 NASA launches Intelsat VA F-10
1986 Ehrig skates ladies world record 5 km (7:20.99)
1986 HBO launches boxing's heavyweight-title-unification-tournament
1986 Heart's "These Dreams" single goes #1
1986 Ice Pairs Championship at Geneva won by Gordeeva & Grinkov (URS)
1986 Kania skates ladies' world record 1500m (1:59.30)
1986 Ladies' Figure Skating Championship in Geneva won by Debi Thomas (USA)
1986 Trevor Berbick beats Pinklon Thomas in 15 for heavyweight boxing title
1986 "On My Own" single release by Patti LaBelle and Michael McDonald (Billboard Song of the Year 1986)
1988 US Congress overrides President Reagan's veto of sweeping civil rights bill
1988 WA beat Queensland by 5 wkts to win the Sheffield Shield Final
1989 Pete Rozelle announces retirement as NFL commissioner after 29 years
1989 US Supreme Court upholds 1 person 1 vote rule of NYC Board of Estimate
1989 Clint Malarchuk of the Buffalo Sabres suffers a near-fatal injury when another player accidentally slits his throat.
1990 "Grapes of Wrath" opens at Cort Theater NYC for 188 performances
1990 Anchorage jury finds Capt Hazelwood not guilty of Valdez oil spill
1990 The ML umpires announce that they will boycott exhibition games
1991 Law enforcement officers raid fraternities at University of Virginaa, seizing drugs
1991 NY Daily News begins using motto "Forward with NY"
1991 Pamela Smart (HS teacher) found guilty in NH of manipulating her student-lover to kill her husband
1992 "Private Lives" closes at Broadhurst Theater NYC after 37 performances
1992 England beat South Africa in rain-ruined cricket World Cup semi final
1992 Joseph A Molloy elected NY Yankee general partner
1992 US Air NY to Cleveland crashes on take off at LaGuardia, 27 die
1993 Intel introduces Pentium-processor (80586) 64 bits-60 MHz-100+ MIPS
1993 André the Giant's induction into inaugural WWE Hall of Fame is announced; no ceremony takes place and he is inducted posthumously
1994 Dutch Ambassador to US christens a new tulip (the Hillary Clinton)
1994 Mark Foster swims world record 50m butterfly (23.68 sec)
1994 South African government and ANC take power in Ciskei homeland
1994 Soyuz TM-21 lands
1994 "Not a Moment Too Soon" 2nd studio album by Tim McGraw release (Billboard year album 1994)
1995 Deputy Governor of Bank of England, Rupert Pennant-Rea, resigns following revelations of his affair with a freelance journalist
1996 Cheryl Depew of Florida crowned 13th Miss Hawaiian Tropic International
1996 STS 76 (Atlantis 16), launches into orbit
1997 "Sunset Boulevard" closes at Minskoff NYC after 977 performances
1997 Comet Hale-Bopp Closest Approach to Earth (1.315 AU)
1997 Ladies' Figure Skating Championship in Lausanne won by Tara Lipinski (USA)
1998 18th Golden Raspberry Awards: The Postman wins
1999 "Amazed" single released by Lonestar (Billboard Song of the Year 1999)
2003 23rd Golden Raspberry Awards: "Swept Away" wins
2004 Ahmed Yassin, co-founder and leader of the Palestinian Sunni Islamist militant group Hamas, and bodyguards killed in the Gaza Strip by Israeli Air Force AH-64 Apache fired Hellfire missiles
2006 ETA, armed Basque separatist group, declares permanent ceasefire
2006 BC Ferries' M/V Queen of the North runs aground on Gil Island British Columbia and sinks; 101 on board, 2 presumed deaths
2006 Three Christian Peacemaker Teams Hostages are freed by British forces in Baghdad after 118 days captivity and the death of their colleague, American Tom Fox
2008 French Swimmer Alain Bernard sets world record of 47.50 for 100m freestyle long course after winning the European LC Championships 2008
2009 Mount Redoubt, a volcano in Alaska began erupting after a prolonged period of unrest
2009 Cricket Women's World Cup: England defeats New Zealand by 4 wickets
2011 Lawrence Taylor pleads guilty for misdemeanors of sexual misconduct and is sentenced to six years probation
2012 Fire devours thousands of hectares of ancient forests and threatens wildlife on Mount Kenya
2012 Australia's most wanted man, Malcolm Naden, is captured after seven years on the run in Gloucester, New South Wales
2012 Largest protest in Quebec's history occurs in Montreal with over 200,000 people marching against government tuition hikes and for free access to post-secondary education
2012 Ireland returns to recession as GDP falls by 0.2% in the fourth quarter of 2011 following a fall of 1.1% in the third quarter
2013 37 people are killed and 200 are injured in a refugee camp fire in Ban Mae, Thailand
2013 American rock band My Chemical Romance announce their break-up
2014 251 people are killed after a boat capsizes in Lake Albert, Uganda
2014 43 people are killed by a mudslide in Oso, Washington
2014 Guinea confirms Ebola outbreak has already killed 59 people
2014 The US and EU impose sanctions on Russia
2016 Suicide bombings at Brussel's Zaventem airport and Maelbeek metro station, leave around 28 victims dead and 260 injured, ISIS claim responsibility
2017 Arctic records its lowest ever winter ice cover according to US National Snow and Ice Data Center, 5.5 million square miles
2017 Tomb of Jesus reopens after restoration in Jerusalem
2017 Terrorist attack on London's Westminster Bridge and Houses of Parliament kills 4 including a police officer and injures 40
2018 US President Donald Trump imposes $60 billion worth of tariffs on Chinese imports
2018 The "Great Pacific Garbage Patch" between Hawaii and California has 1.8 trillion pieces of plastic and increasing rapidly according to new research
2018 Musical "Frozen" opens on Broadway based on the film, starring Patti Murin and Caissie Levy
2019 "Mind-blowing" discovery announced of 518 million year old fossil site in near Danshui river, Hubei province, China, with thousands of unknown fossils well preserved
2020 India puts 1 billion people under a daytime curfew to curb COVID-19
2020 Iranian supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei refuses American COVID-19 help, refers to conspiracy theory that it was manufactured by the US