March 22 - World Water Day
The idea of celebrating World Water Day was put forward in 1992 at the UN Conference on Environment and Development in Rio de Janeiro. In its resolution 47/193 of 22 December 1992, the General Assembly decided to declare March 22 of each year as the International Day of Water Resources, which was later renamed World Water Day and has been celebrated since 1993.
In December 2003, the United Nations General Assembly declared 2005–2015 the International Decade for Action "Water for Life".
In December 2010, the United Nations General Assembly proclaimed 2013 the International Year of Water Cooperation.
In order to implement bilateral agreements in the field of transboundary river protection and in accordance with the Order of the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environmental Protection of the Republic of Belarus No. 341-OD dated 17.08.2011 "On monitoring the state of surface waters in transboundary river sections of the Republic of Belarus", the monitoring of surface waters in transboundary sections of water bodies of the region is organized at 5 observation points. On the borders with the Russian Federation and Latvia, observations are carried out at 5 points, 4 of which are located in the basin of the Western Dvina River (Western Dvina River 0.5 km upstream of the settlement of Surazh, Usvyacha River 0.5 km upstream of the settlement of Novoselki, Kasplya River near the settlement of Surazh 0.5 km from the mouth, Western Dvina River 0.5 km downstream of the settlement of Druya) and 1 point is in the basin of the Dnieper River (Dnieper River within the settlement of Sarviry). These observation points are included in the State Register of Observation Points of the National Environmental Monitoring System in the Republic of Belarus. Additionally, within the framework of the Belarusian-Russian Agreement on Cooperation in the Field of Protection and Rational Use of Transboundary Water Resources, observations are conducted on the state of 10 transboundary rivers and 18 lakes on the border with the Russian Federation.
The Vitebsk region is located within the basins of three rivers – Neman, Dnieper, and Western Dvina. In terms of the number of water bodies, the region ranks first in the republic, with about 1.8 thousand lakes with a total area of over 900 km², 16 reservoirs, two large rivers – the Western Dvina and the Dnieper, and over 5.0 thousand small rivers with a total length of 9037 km, including transboundary water bodies.
The volume of river runoff in 2011 was 18.2 km³/year for the region (2nd place in the republic after the Gomel region). The withdrawal of river water for use was 0.1 km³/year (2nd place in the republic after the Brest region).
As of January 1, 2012, the groundwater resources of the Vitebsk region amount to 3.36 km³/year (2nd place in the republic after the Minsk region). Exploitation reserves are 0.33 km³/year. The extraction of groundwater for use in 2012 in the region was 0.106 km³/year (in 2005 - 0.13 km³/year). The use of fresh water for household and drinking needs has decreased over these years from 0.08 km³/year to 0.05 km³/year.
Water users in the region have 5317 water intake wells on their balance sheet. The percentage of operating water supply sources equipped with water metering devices is 99.7%. In order to reduce the level of groundwater pollution, 177 water intake wells have been plugged since 2009.
25 mineral groundwater fields have been explored in the Vitebsk region. Of these, 9 fields are being developed: Begomlskoye (Begoml, Dokshitsy district), Lesnoye (Lesnoye, Dokshitsy district), Borovka (Borovka village, Lepel district), Rosinka (Perebrodye village, Miory district), ChKUP "Ushachi Vegetable Drying Plant" (Ushachi urban settlement), Lukomlskoye (Novolukoml, Chashniki district), Lyottsy (M. Lyottsy village, Vitebsk district), branch of OAO "Krinitsa" "Polotskoye Pivo" (Polotsk), Vitebskoye (Vitebsk).
There are 1162 economic entities in the region whose activities are related to water use, 573 of which carry out special water use.
91 water users have 255 wastewater treatment facilities on their balance sheet, of which 151 discharge wastewater into water bodies.