July 7, 2013, Kyiv – On the Day of Dnipro, MAMA-86 and its partners will carry out an action "For Dnipro with Love". The event will take place on the Obolon Promenade (near 12D Heroiv Stalinhrada Ave.) from 10:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Representatives from the environmental organization "Moya Zemlya" (My Land), the State Water Agency, the Kyiv City State Administration, the Water Museum, and the KyivVodoKanal (Kyiv Water & Wastewater company) will also participate in the event.

The event's program includes singing and khorovod dancing, chalk drawing, making clay presents to Dnipro, awarding winners of the "Say Thanks to Water!" contest, a clothesline photo exhibition "The Lybid River," and other exciting things.

A detailed program can be found here.

140 years after having constructed the first phase of the Kyiv city water service, which supplied potable water to homes from Dnipro directly, the river has turned into a cascade of "blooming" water reservoirs. Its tributaries shallow and disappear. Today, even swimming in Dnipro is not safe everywhere.

Every year we discharge to Dnipro hundreds of million tons of untreated wastewater. At the same time, 70 percent of Ukrainian population are provided with water just from Dnipro – water, which VodoKanals try to purify up to a potable quality. In Southern Ukraine and Crimea people have to drink the Dnipro water of the worst quality. We must understand that our lives depend on the Great River, and we are responsible for its condition. Kyiv's residents and government must not only care about the quality of water they drink but also think of the problems that Kyiv creates for 30 million of fellow-countrymen who live down the stream.

Actually, we all live downstream. We need to change our consumptive attitude toward water and begin appreciating this bounty of nature, treat Dnipro with love and gratitude, and work for water health and own purification.

By this action in the International Year of Water Cooperation, MAMA-86 has decided to support the initiative of its colleagues from Zaporizhya – the environmental organization "Moya Zemlya" and the Organic Farming Club – that have been carrying out the "For Dnipro with Love" eco-actions for four years.

The action in Kyiv will take place with support from GWP Ukraine and in collaboration with the NGOs "Moya Zemlya," Information Center of Patrimonial Estate Creators, Vedic Society "Lad," and Kyiv Community "Pokon Roda" of the International Center of Slavic Vedic Culture "Rodove Vohnysche."

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The Global Water Partnership (GWP) was founded in 1996 to foster integrated water resources management. The GWP network is currently composed of 2,800 partner organizations in 167 countries. GWP Ukraine was established in 2006, and it is part of the Regional Water Partnership – GWP Central and Eastern Europe.

The "For Dnipro with Love" action in Zaporizhya on May 19, 2013 (photos by Anna Tsvetkova):