Conserve Water

by Subha Ganapathi in Activism, March 21, 2009

Water is a precious natural resource. With a growing population, the necessity for water is increasing. Hence, it becomes every individual’s duty to conserve and share water.

Water is an indispensable natural resource on earth. It is the elixir of all life on earth. No other liquid can be quench thirst better than water. 3/4ths of the earth is formed of water and more than 1/2 of the human body is composed of water.

Water is a renewable energy resource. “Renewable” means, that which keeps getting reproduced. During summers, water evaporates from water bodies and reaches the sky in the form of vapor forming rain clouds. This returns to the earth as rain, and fills lakes, ponds and rivers. Then once again, the evaporation phase begins. The continuous replenishment of water in a cyclic manner is called hydrological cycle.

Even though it is a renewable natural resource, water, being precious, should be conserved. This is so because about 96-97% of water on the earth is salty and only around 3-4% is fresh water.

Overuse of water leads to lowering of the water table, drying of wells and consequently, less rainfall. Thereby, the hydrological cycle gets disturbed. Ecosystem begins to suffer and aquatic food chains effected, as aquatic organisms are unable to thrive without water.

Here are a few recommendations that any person can easily follow

Repair leaky taps, pipelines and faucets. Fix leaks as soon as you notice them.
When taps need to be replaced, but the right kind of tap is not available, temporarily shut off the tap to cut down on wasted water.
Men should make sure that they do not let the tap flow while shaving or while applying the shaving lotion.
Do not overuse water for irrigation. This also results in water logging i.e., loss of valuable nutrients from the soil.
Industries should make sure they don’t overuse, waste or pollute water, especially when water is being used as coolants (as in thermal power plants). Proper methods should be taken up to recycle water being let out from factories.
Reports say that the water table gets low in areas where there is too much of groundwater withdrawal (using bore wells). This might result in sinking of the overlying land surface.
Organize campaigns against deforestation. When trees are cut, it might lead to either of the two disasters- floods or droughts. Such floods have been common in India and Bangladesh in the 1970s and late 80s. Deforestation might also lead to Desertification.
Plant saplings of common flowering plants in wastelands. If a tree is cut, make sure atleast 10 saplings are planted as a substitute to it.
While choosing detergents, use mild detergents and make sure they are less in phosphate content. This will reduce the amount of water needed for washing due to less foaming.