First Chennai in 2019, now Bengaluru (2024). Not too far away is the day when most cities in India will be facing a water crisis. When will we wake up from slumber to realise that the most precious resource WATER which has made life possible on this planet is under severe threat of being depleted forever? We have been ignoring and turning a blind eye to this issue for decades now. The three R’s – reduce, recycle, reuse need to be implemented to conserve this precious life-giving resource.
We must change our habits NOW and take steps to ensure that the rate of replenishment exceeds the depletion. A lot needs to be done on a larger scale yet at the household level we can take simple steps to do our bit which can help save about 100 litres per day. If one does the maths and calculations – every home can save about 36000 litres per year. Sounds alarming !! Let’s take a look.
1. A/C water – place a bucket beneath the window a/c or connect the pipe of the indoor unit to a bucket of a split a/c. You will be surprised at how much water can be collected in just a few hours. This is clean & pure water from the moisture present in the air. A household has about 3-4 a/c’s each and water collected from each is about 8-10 litres in 5-6 hours of running the a/c in humid weather. This water can be safely used for mopping the floors – then reused to water the plants. Total water collected & reused -30 litres.
2. RO water – south delhi is blessed with good quality water contrary to what the water filter companies claim. RO water filters discard 70-75% of the water as waste while filtering the water. This water can be collected in buckets or small drums and reused for bathing, washing vegetables & fruits, clothes, cars, flushes in the washrooms, mopping & cleaning as also watering plants. On an average, a household of 4 members uses about 20-30 litres of drinking water (as also for cooking) in a day – which means the RO discards about 60-70 litres.
3. Washing machine – a full wash load of any washing machine uses anywhere between 65-80 litres of water per wash cycle. This soap water can be very conveniently collected in tubs and reused for washing cars, terraces, drive ways, flushes in the washrooms, mopping as also for watering the plants. Yes, you read it right – watering the plants. I have been doing it for over a decade now and the good health of my plants speak for themselves. Better still if one can switch to biodegradable and environmentally friendly detergents. – water saved – min. 60 litres.
4. Flush tanks – Place 2 no. 500 ml. pet botte or glass bottles in the tanks of the flushes in the washroom. Each time you flush it saves a litre of water. Each person flushes the WC at least thrice a day, average family of four members saves 12 litres per day.
5. Bucket bath vs. shower – undoubtedly a bucket bath saves water over a shower bath. One doesn’t need to elaborate on it.
6. Aerators – these are small filters which can be fitted onto all types of taps. These aerators reduce the water flow and save upto 70% of water which is otherwise unknowingly wasted. These are readily available on Amazon as well as hardware shops.
7. Washing dals, rice, vegetables & Fruits – we have been washing dals, rice etc. almost daily and throwing away the precious water full of nutrition for plants. During covid times we all changed habits and started washing vegetables and fruits diligently. Average daily use – 2-5 litres.
8. Rainwater harvesting –the simplest way is to collect runoff water in drums and use it after sieving with a cloth. This can be saved and used for most of the purposes mentioned above. Eventually one should get a proper rainwater harvesting system which can store water and also recharge groundwater. Ample success stories are available on the internet to motivate and inspire.
Like the saying goes charity begins at home – let us start and do what we can as also motivate others. In our household, we have been following all of the above for the past many years and it has become a way of life. If each one of us makes these small changes I am sure we will be able to bring about a positive change in the depleting water table and not worry about the future. This is a resource which even money will not be able to buy. Act before it is too late .
