It is to celebrate the humanity’s connection to water through the practice of bathing and highlight the importance of access to clean bathing water. It was established in 2018 by Bathe the World Foundation.

World Bathing Day should not be confused with International Bath Day. The latter is celebrated on June 14 to commemorate the day when Archimedes allegedly invented the method of calculating the volume of an irregularly shaped object by submerging it in water while he was taking a bath.