International World Water Day (March 22) was recommended at the 1992 United Nations Conference on Environment and Development and held annually since 1993 in order to draw attention to the importance of sustainable management of fresh water.
Tomorrow, Stichting Aquarius celebrates the World Water Day and invites everyone to assist in cleaning Amstel (three kilometres). The initiative will be take place at the city centre and symbolically start in front of Waternet.
"Everything starts with you and me. If we stop polluting, we will not need companies to clean the water," explains the organiser and Aquarius founder, Erik Van Loon, and continues "Rivers are wonderful, they bring you everywhere… You can just lie on the water and it will bring you to another town."
Erik Van Loon's activities date back to 2008 right after he got arrested for swimming outside Rotterdam. He is also known as Ron Volkaine, famous for displaying huge portraits during the ING New York City Marathon every year.
During World Water Day 2009, Stichting Aquarius organised a "cleaning day" in Northern Holland and 2010 in Rotterdam.
› Amsterdam Clean Up (March 22)
› Solar Bottle Boat Race (Rotterdam, May 15)
› Mermaid Parade (The Hague, June 21)
› Piet Hein Cup (Delfshaven-Delft, July 3)
› King Of The Rivers
Series of open water swim events for the "King Of The Rivers" title.
- The Delfshavense Schiekampioenschappen Swim (Delfshaven, July 2)
- The Rondje Noordereiland Swim
(Rotterdam, July 31)
- The Rondje KNSM Eiland swim
(Amsterdam, August 7)
- The Amsterdam Swim - Finals
(August 28)