Water conservation – How to save every last drop

My six year old neighbor asked me why she should not bathe in the tub every day. There is so much water on Earth, she rationalized. Her teacher had recently taught her in school that most of the Earth was filled with water. Samuel Taylor Coleridge answers her innocent question best.

“Water water everywhere, not any drop to drink.”

It seems like just one drop, but it will soon fill a bucket…

(Suggested Graphic: shutterstock.com)

It is true, of course, that over 70% of the Earth is filled with water. The problem is that only 2.5% of it is freshwater. Of this, only 1% is accessible to us to process as drinking water. This is because most of the freshwater is in the form of glaciers, icecaps and snowfields. So, there, really, isn’t as much usable water as it seems.

The ever-increasing population, has only sent total water requirement northwards. The situation in most parts of the world has become desperate. Water conservation has become the need of the hour.

We all need water. However, remember to use it judiciously and responsibly because water is both precious and scarce. Don’t waste it. The buck stops with you. You must find ways to save water.

He who wastes H20 is your foe!

How to save water in your daily life

As an individual, you can do a lot towards water conservation:

1. Take shorter showers. Better yet, use a bucket and mug to bathe to limit water usage.
2. Close the tap when you are brushing your teeth, shaving or washing your hair.
3. If you use a washing machine or dishwasher, ensure that it is full before you put it on. Generally, the same quantity of water is used, irrespective of load.
4. Ensure that no tap or pipe is leaking in your home. Turn off the main source each time, if necessary. It is, absolutely, criminal to let water run down the drain needlessly.
5. Wash your car sparingly in dry seasons, and on alternate days in the rainy season. Use a cloth and bucket of water, rather than a hose pipe.
6. Recycle water. Use left over water from cooking to water plants. Also reuse reject water from water purifiers. With the decreasing quality of ground water, a lot of reject water tends to collect.
7. Flush your toilet with half a tank or less of water.
8. Install low-flow shower heads and reduce the pressure in your taps.
9. Close all your taps when you leave town. My neighbors regularly point out that they can hear taps leaking from closed houses.
10. Educate all members of your family about the water conservation practices you are implementing. Rope children into your plan. They are master executors!
11. If you have a garden, grow plants that need minimal water. Reduce the size of your lawn or better still, do away with it. Lawns are beautiful but need too much water.

These practices are simple ways to save water that most people neglect to do. The unfortunate reasoning is I can pay my water bills, so I have a right to waste water. However, remember that no man is an island. Water crisis is upon us all and affects us all. It is every single person’s duty to learn how to save water in our daily life.

         Every drop counts. Plug the leakages!

(Suggested graphic: Shutterstock.com)

Ways to save water at the community level

Be an aware and active member of your community. There are many examples your community can set on how to save water in daily life.

1. Ensure that your apartment complex has rainwater harvesting facilities. Optimization of water usage through storage and recycling is a great way to save water.
2. Keep an eye out for buildings being constructed on flood plains. Heavy rains can inundate these areas. Raise these issues before they become serious problems.
3. Keep your surroundings clean. Garbage tends to clog up sewer lines, making it difficult for water to seep into the ground. This affects the ground water levels.
4. Ensure there are waste paper baskets, especially near water bodies. Once lakes and rivers are polluted, they become breeding grounds for mosquitoes. The water in them becomes unusable. Organized waste management will check water wastage.
5. If any drain is getting blocked, bring it to the attention of the community authorities. Blocked drains obstruct the process of lake/river rejuvenation.
6. Oppose deforestation, participate in afforestation drives and lake rejuvenation efforts.

People in our community formed a human chain to prevent the cutting of some very old trees in our neighborhood. The plan was to widen the adjoining roads. The actions of these proactive environmentalists saved 30-40 trees from being cut!

7. There yesterday, gone today! In the lean season when water bodies dry up, people forget there was water there. It is a common practice for builders to develop these sites. Encroaching low-lying areas, again, obstructs lake rejuvenation.

Every drop makes a difference. You are the change the world needs. So, proactively follow these practical ways to save water. Conserve water. Allow more generations to enjoy the wonder liquid called water!

If you waste it, your children won’t be able to taste it!

The Art of Living has been actively involved in many river rejuvenation projects around India. The organization has revived several rivers in states such as Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Kerala. It has undertaken digging of canals and construction of recharge wells to store water. Boulder checks have enabled greater water percolation underground. In the process, it has empowered women to become self-sufficient with their water requirements. Villagers, now, have more water for irrigation of their farms and can, also, meet their families’ daily water requirements.