Paani da rang vekh ke… aakhiyan de anju rul de……. This is quite literal in the rural regions of India during the summers. The quality of water available is so bad that it’s not even fit for bathing let alone drinking. “The next world war will be fought for rights to water…” ominous words coming from Kofi Annan ex- sect general of the United Nations in the year 2005 did not ring a bell to most. After all, who of us would take water conservation seriously? For most people, the fact that 71% of earth’s surface is covered with water is a major point in the subconscious mind while they expend this natural resource. How often have we seen a tap / pipe leaking by the roadside and even bothered to stop and think of the amount of water that goes wasted, unused? Frankly, we don’t. For we know, come monsoon the nature is going to return the bounty to us in form of rain and all that we waste will get replenished in one go
I would not want to use this medium to profess but to give some perspective to the readers, even though 71% of the surface of earth is covered with water, less than 1% of this is potable – meaning fit to be used by human beings. Almost 2% would be the upper limit for water fit to be used by living beings. Meaning, all the animals, most of the plants and human beings have to subsist on 2% of the water available in nature. Given the rate at which the population is growing and the rate at which we are wasting water, in the near future we will run out of water fit for consumption. We could always think of desalinating the sea water and make it fit for consumption, but the cost involved are so large that we will have to ration the supply of water and probably sell it at a premium price. The problem is, I can’t stress enough on how dangerously close we are to a disaster and how less we are informed about the consequences. Every day we see people waste water mostly because they are not aware of the costs involved with this wastage. I would like to use some time in suggesting ways to conserve water for us and for future generations to come.
Afforestation: Trees are a natural way of conserving water and increasing ground water level. During the rainy season nature showers us with a bounty of water and most of it ends up in the drains and goes unused. If we plant enough trees in our locality and build communities which insist on green cover, we contribute in conserving water by the way of building ground water level. Most communities use underground water by drilling bore wells going as far as 300 ft. in search of water. We are paying a huge price by plundering the water table willy-nilly. Municipal heads and communities have to ensure that bore wells are not used for construction of high rises and for domestic use we don’t drill beyond surface water (about 30 ft.). Communities can invest for rain water harvesting so that they could use rain water for consumption post natural filtering process. This would reduce the dependability on ground water by 30-40%. Imagine the amount of water conserved within a city or a nation if we enforce these green laws seriously.
We could use simple change of habits and conserve up to 50% from our daily consumption of water. Using a bucket and tumbler for bath rather than shower saves about 3 buckets of water per shower, using bucket for washing utensils, rather than washing directly from tap, using the stop flush instead of flush tub saves up to 8 liter of water per use. Ensuring we double check the tap leakage and mend our faulty plumbing regularly saves more water than we can imagine. Simple things make large changes and we must always remember the adage “little drop of water makes a mighty ocean”. Let us do our little bit every single day at our homes to make a difference to this world. In our office space, the less we comment about it, the better. The lack of ownership of the office space makes us splurge on the resources and the various facilities that are mandated by corporates to its employees ensure a steady availability of these resources- despite the splurge. We could save on power consumption, save on water wastage from taps and water coolers, save on the water we flush in sinks to wash our coffee cups. Any mid-sized office space wastes about 1000 – 5000 liters of water (this is capturing the waste not the use of water). Imagine the amount of potable water a city like Pune or Bangalore with huge office space wastes in a single day.
The next time we splurge, lets us remind ourselves that while we are wasting water, scores of people in rural India are passing days looking for tankers to supply them water even for daily usage, let alone for drinking. While, it’s not my case that we should not live in comfort, but we could always look out for the less fortunate who do not have access to basic services which everyone deserves. The next time you ask, “Why should I save if I can afford?” remind yourself that you have to save because we can afford to save.
So long…….
I would not want to use this medium to profess but to give some perspective to the readers, even though 71% of the surface of earth is covered with water, less than 1% of this is potable – meaning fit to be used by human beings. Almost 2% would be the upper limit for water fit to be used by living beings. Meaning, all the animals, most of the plants and human beings have to subsist on 2% of the water available in nature. Given the rate at which the population is growing and the rate at which we are wasting water, in the near future we will run out of water fit for consumption. We could always think of desalinating the sea water and make it fit for consumption, but the cost involved are so large that we will have to ration the supply of water and probably sell it at a premium price. The problem is, I can’t stress enough on how dangerously close we are to a disaster and how less we are informed about the consequences. Every day we see people waste water mostly because they are not aware of the costs involved with this wastage. I would like to use some time in suggesting ways to conserve water for us and for future generations to come.
Afforestation: Trees are a natural way of conserving water and increasing ground water level. During the rainy season nature showers us with a bounty of water and most of it ends up in the drains and goes unused. If we plant enough trees in our locality and build communities which insist on green cover, we contribute in conserving water by the way of building ground water level. Most communities use underground water by drilling bore wells going as far as 300 ft. in search of water. We are paying a huge price by plundering the water table willy-nilly. Municipal heads and communities have to ensure that bore wells are not used for construction of high rises and for domestic use we don’t drill beyond surface water (about 30 ft.). Communities can invest for rain water harvesting so that they could use rain water for consumption post natural filtering process. This would reduce the dependability on ground water by 30-40%. Imagine the amount of water conserved within a city or a nation if we enforce these green laws seriously.
We could use simple change of habits and conserve up to 50% from our daily consumption of water. Using a bucket and tumbler for bath rather than shower saves about 3 buckets of water per shower, using bucket for washing utensils, rather than washing directly from tap, using the stop flush instead of flush tub saves up to 8 liter of water per use. Ensuring we double check the tap leakage and mend our faulty plumbing regularly saves more water than we can imagine. Simple things make large changes and we must always remember the adage “little drop of water makes a mighty ocean”. Let us do our little bit every single day at our homes to make a difference to this world. In our office space, the less we comment about it, the better. The lack of ownership of the office space makes us splurge on the resources and the various facilities that are mandated by corporates to its employees ensure a steady availability of these resources- despite the splurge. We could save on power consumption, save on water wastage from taps and water coolers, save on the water we flush in sinks to wash our coffee cups. Any mid-sized office space wastes about 1000 – 5000 liters of water (this is capturing the waste not the use of water). Imagine the amount of potable water a city like Pune or Bangalore with huge office space wastes in a single day.
The next time we splurge, lets us remind ourselves that while we are wasting water, scores of people in rural India are passing days looking for tankers to supply them water even for daily usage, let alone for drinking. While, it’s not my case that we should not live in comfort, but we could always look out for the less fortunate who do not have access to basic services which everyone deserves. The next time you ask, “Why should I save if I can afford?” remind yourself that you have to save because we can afford to save.
So long…….
