Top 9 water tweets of 2019

2019 was the year of seeking big ideas and transformative solutions to “sustain water resources, deliver services and build resilience.” That was the case, at least, for the Twitter followers of @WorldBankWater.  From implementing nature-based solutions to reusing and recovering wastewater, these three themes dominated our social media space and garnered the most engagements (total number of times a user interacted with a tweet, including retweets, replies, follows, likes etc.)

Here are the top nine tweets of 2019 from @WorldBankWater:

Topping our list of the year among all the tweets pushed out from @WorldBankWater was a conservation-minded monkey doing his part to alleviate the global water crisis. Everyone -- even monkeys, it seems -- knows that you should turn the faucet off when not in use. “Turn it off” was one of the key messages from the High-Level Panel on Water and we are glad that the Panel’s call to action on #iValueWater continues to resonate well with our audience.

People don’t often think of wetlands, mangroves, and other natural ecosystems as forms of infrastructure, but they can provide some of the most powerful infrastructure solutions. In March 2019, we released a joint report with the World Resources Institute: Integrating Green and Gray, exploring how a new generation of infrastructure projects that harness the power of nature can help achieve water security and climate resilience. The series of animated GIFs we designed to accompany the report’s messages were a social media success, prompting a high click-through rate.

When the challenges of climate change and environmental degradation feel too big to tackle, it’s important to remind ourselves that there are small things we can do right now to reduce our own personal carbon footprint.  This list of “10 Ways to Be More Sustainable” resonated with many of you, and perhaps, helped encourage some simple, but effective individual actions.

Twitter followers seemed to agree that the term “wastewater” is an oxymoron.  Wastewater is a valuable resource from which energy and nutrients can be extracted, as well as an additional source of water. Your recognition of the value of wastewater showed that the necessary paradigm shift from #waste2resource is well under way. On World Water Day this year (March 22, 2020), we’ll be releasing the final report summarizing the work of our initiative Wastewater: from Waste to Resource. Stay tuned! 

Water pollution threatens human and environmental well-being, in rich and poor countries alike, while slashing economic growth by a third in the most heavily polluted areas.  To kick off World Water Week in August, these findings -- backed by the world’s largest database on water quality -- were presented in a flagship report, Quality Unknown: The Invisible Water Crisis.  Our tweets about the report were shared widely by social media influencers.

No one should die due to inadequate sanitation, yet around the world, 1.6 million people die every year due to poor sanitation and hygiene.  Our Twitter audience showed strong support for this #WorldToiletDay message in November.

Building climate resilience is undoubtedly a priority for the @WorldBankWater community.  More and more communities live on the frontlines of climate change, facing severe droughts, floods, erosion, and fires. During #COP25, we reiterated water’s critical role in climate adaptation and mitigation: “Poor or absent water management policies will exacerbate the effects of climate change on water, while sound water management can neutralize many of the water-related impacts of climate change.”  

When six World Bank Vice Presidents joined together to advocate for investment in menstrual hygiene management for all women and girls, our Twitter followers stepped up to share their messages and help raise awareness for Menstrual Hygiene Day.

Sanitation rounded out our top nine tweets, with a video demonstrating how we need locally relevant, innovative solutions that consider the whole sanitation service chain if we are to truly provide adequate sanitation for everyone, everywhere.

In 2019, the innovative and diverse voices of our Twitter community gathered to share ideas and information and create a dynamic conversation with us online.  We want to thank you for highlighting the water and sanitation issues that are most important to you. As we head into 2020, let’s continue the discussion and collaboration as we work together for a water-secure world for all.