When Even Awareness Doesn't Seem to Work!!

The most precious element that is available to us is water. Its something that sustains life. I wont bore you with the various uses of water since this is one element which needs no introduction, the need for which is involuntary & without with we can't sustain. In short, "Water Sustains Life".

Coming to what I am posting today. Well, today's post is based on all the personal experiences about water wastage, about the kind and amount of water that is wasted in front of us while we are performing our daily activities. My motive of penning down these obvious facts and experiences is to make the reader aware of the amount of water we and our known ones waste on a day to day basis, and to make them vocal enough to protest against regular waster wastage.

Just 4% of the water used at home is used for drinking purposes. Not Shocking?

Water wastage is a common sight at your home, office, shop, in public water supply systems, etc. Be it the overflowing bucket which you forget to turn off when you are busy watching television while the tap is on or be it your maid forgetting to turn off the tap as she is the one expected to multi-task and in the process forgets about the tap. Wastage of water in retail stores especially those situated just next to the highway is very common as loads of water is used to keep the dust alongside the road wet and settled. This practice is carried out twice a day thus wasting hundreds of litres of water every time. Overflowing municipal corporation tankers and leaking pipes is also a source of water wastage. More than 30% of water of municipal corporations is wasted in form of leakages.

Water leakages are common in developing countries


It is a known fact that water tables are going down with each passing day. People are boring deeper than before inside the Earth due to fallen water tables. Remember our childhood days when we used to have hand pumps installed at many places to meet our water requirements. Unfortunately now no hand pumps are left since water table has gone down significantly. Even after all this we continue to waste water unduly and unmindful of the situation around the world.

A dry hand pump

I certainly din't bore you with an introduction about water but I can't resist myself from telling some disturbing facts about water availability. More than 780 million people around the world lack access to safe water, that is nearly one out of every nine people on the planet. More than 6 million people die every year around the world due to water-borne diseases and 99% of these deaths happen in developing countries. Agriculture & irrigation accounts for 70% of fresh water usage around the world. Domestic consumption just accounts for 10% of water usage. 20% of children deaths below the age of 5 years are due to water-borne diseases.

If I come on pointing out every fact this post won't be sufficient enough for that. And yes, I will definitely talk about solutions since any of these conservation topics isn't finished till the author gives his views about solutions to the problem but according to me the real solution is the change in mindset of the people. People like you and me need to see water as a precious resource and not as a free commodity that can be wasted by our choice. My personal attempts to make people aware about the wastage of water have failed most of the times because with water comes a sense of carelessness just because people in this part of world where I live have not seen scarcity effecting their lives till now.

Till this change in our mindset comes very little can be done with regards to water conservation. But you should resolve to create maximum awareness and protest even smallest of water wastage even at the expense of earning disliking from the people whom you try to stop from wasting water. Forming awareness groups, educating our employees & neighbors, community meetings on ways to stop water wastage can be some of the simple steps. Moreover, the municipal corporations should ensure 24x7 supply of water at nominal rates and ban private bore-wells so that a curb on excessive usage can be put on.

Remember, every drop is precious. Think about those who don't even get water to drink lest waste....

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