World Toilet Day 2024: US Ambassador Eric Garcetti Visits Lucknow, Says 'Incredible Results' (Watch Video)

US Ambassador to India Eric Garcetti visited Lucknow in Uttar Pradesh on the occasion of World Toilet Day 2024 today, November 19. Praising Indi's efforts and mission in cleanliness as a mission of Prime Minister Narendra Modi for "Swatch Bharat Abhiyan." PM Modi's clarion call for water conservation, Harpic Mission Paani, was launched nationally in August 2019 with a commitment to generate collective consciousness, action, and behaviour change for protecting and conserving water resources. 

"I am here today in Lucknow to celebrate World Toilet Day and to see the incredible results that India has brought to this mission to make sure everybody has health, everybody has dignity, everybody has the opportunity," said the US Ambassador to India.

"We've seen Prime Minister Modi's vision, we've seen states like UP take that, and the United States is a proud partner, designing toilets together, recycling water together, finding ways that we can take plastic off the streets and turn them into portable toilets," he said further by praising PM Modi's initiatives and mission.

US Ambassador to India Eric Garcetti Praised India

#WATCH | Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh: US Ambassador to India Eric Garcetti says, "I am here today in Lucknow to celebrate World Toilet Day and to see the incredible results that India has brought to this mission to make sure everybody has health, everybody has dignity, everybody has… pic.twitter.com/WsjF5MsLjj

— ANI (@ANI) November 19, 2024

"And I think until every human being has a toilet that she or he can use, our work is undone. But I am very inspired by India. We see this across Bharat, and now we want to take those lessons around the world together," Garcetti stated further.

Also Read | India-US ties to strengthen under Trump, says US Envoy Eric Garcetti.

"Before I was ambassador to India, I was what you'd call chief minister of the city of Los Angeles, Hollywood, that place that you probably watched a couple of movies and television shows from. So the work of the men and women up in here is something personal," said Eric Garcetti.

He said "nearly 10 million people in a great metropolitan area, four million of them directly in the city of Los Angeles. We had to look at their water. We had to look at the sewage systems. We managed to launch a program to recycle 100 percent of all of our wastewater by 2035..."

The United Nations observes World Toilet Day on November 19 annually. The main aim is to raise public awareness of broader sanitation systems such as wastewater treatment, stormwater management, and hand washing. The day is celebrated to increase public awareness of more extensive sanitation systems, including hand washing, stormwater management, and wastewater treatment.

Over 3.6 billion people still use poor toilets, which harm their health and pollute the environment, and this has created a worldwide sanitation catastrophe. Due to poor sanitation practices, human waste contaminates water resources by getting into rivers, lakes, and soil. To stop this, there has to be universal access to hygienic restrooms that are part of a sanitation system that efficiently collects and handles human waste.