- 20 March 2023
- Posted by: eyath-news
- Category: All News
With the motto “The solution is in the tap. Clean water, clean seas” EYATH S.A. celebrates World Water Day this year, on Wednesday March 22, in collaboration with the organization “Aegean Rebreath”, which works to protect the marine environment.
As part of this year’s celebration, two stands will be set up, in the center of Thessaloniki (Agia Sophia with Tsimiski St.) and on the pedestrian street of Kalamaria, where an informative brochure and promotional material will be distributed on the importance of drinking high-quality tap water for the body on the one hand and on the other hand, for the pollution of the seas.
Our tap water is running, has excellent physicochemical characteristics, is hygienic and microbiologically safe, is tested 7 days a week, 365 days a year and meets the specifications of Greek and European legislation. But it is also environmentally friendly, because it is simply not packaged! It is enough to think that 72% of the marine waste collected is plastic and in fact 25% of it is water bottles, as shown by the coastal and underwater cleanups of “Aegean Rebreath” in Greece. Each plastic bottle that ends up in the environment takes about 450-500 years to decompose, and as it breaks down, it releases microplastics (pieces of very small plastic), which are a major source of danger to marine organisms. Especially for the beaches of Greece, “Aegean Rebreath” in collaboration with the Hellenic Marine Research Center confirmed the presence of microplastics by 100% in all the samples taken. Through microplastics, chemical toxic pollutants and other pollutants are transported everywhere in the ocean, to eventually reach our table through the food chain and the consumption of fish.
Especially in Kalamaria, a questionnaire will be distributed on the correlation of drinking water consumption with environmental issues, as it was found that it is one of the municipalities of the Urban Complex with the highest consumption of bottled water. At the same time, citizens will be encouraged to check their tap water at the accredited, modern chemistry lab of EYATH, in order to have a documented and scientific way of the quality characteristics of the water that reaches their tap and to choose it while protecting the environment.
The theme of this year’s World Water Day celebration, as defined by the UN, is “Accelerating change”. The UN advocates the need to take individual and collective initiative, at family and community level, to change our attitude towards the way we use, consume and manage water in our lives.
“Aegean Rebreath” is a social cooperative that undertakes targeted marine clean-up initiatives by mapping, harvesting, collecting and recycling marine litter based on the principles of the circular economy. In 2022 it was awarded the Economist’s “Green Award” and as the best environmental organization of the year. Last November, it signed a Memorandum of Cooperation with EYATH with the aim of limiting the consumption of single-use plastics and raising the awareness of the people of Thessaloniki on marine environment issues.
The stands in Agia Sofia St. and on the pedestrian street of Kalamaria will be set up on Wednesday, from 10 am. until 2 p.m.