A few months back, I was going on a trip to Mussourie with my friends. When I looked at the dried rivers with absolutely no water downhill, I was aghast. Not that I had never cared for water before witnessing this, but this was my tipping point.
Ever since then, I have been screaming into people’s ears and heads that we will soon run short of fresh water, and that we should start doing our own bit to save it. But humans are a stubborn race. Everybody turned a deaf ear to my words until a few days ago, when the channels flashed the news that in all major cities, groundwater supplies will run out by 2020 and fresh drinking water will be gone by 2030.
And yes, people have to believe that we are indeed in the middle of a water crisis. What the government’s doing to get us out of it and what the NGOs are doing to prevent this is their side of the story. The question is, what are we, as citizens of this nation, doing to prevent this crisis from happening?
I sat down, pondering over my daily activities and started noting down all the instances where I could save water – even a few precious drops of them. I discussed it with my friends and created a list of points to conserve water before it all goes away. I am sharing the list below, so that even if one of the points strikes you, you can take it up and save few litres of water daily.
1. Bathe with a bucket instead of shower – One bucket uses 20-25 litres of water, whereas a shower- head uses 35 litres of water in 10 minutes.
2. Scrub your body and shampoo your hair in one go, and then wash your hair and body together – This uses up 1.5 buckets of water, as compared to the 2.5 buckets when you bathe and shampoo separately.
3. Try to re-use utensils and clothes as much as possible – Use the same glass to drink water in a day, repeat clothes on two days if they are not sweaty.
4. Instead of throwing away old bottled water, give it to the plants or use it for some other purpose.
5. Close the tap while brushing teeth and while rubbing soap when washing your hands.
6. Try to harvest at least one bucket of water when it rains and use it for mopping, washing your car or domestic chores.
Remember that water is the most essential element for our body. Even if we save a few drops of water, it will be worth another few years of fresh running water. Don’t avoid doing it because nobody else is doing it. Instead, become a part of the mission so that others look at you and say that they learnt to return to nature, because of you.
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Featured image used for representative purposes only.