Water Pollution...

With the way humans started using water, ever since indoor plumbing, is wasteful to say the least.
A century ago, while the population was a lot less and our natural water bodies were a lot bigger (and cleaner), indoor plumbing didn’t exist. Therefore people were a lot more mindful of their water consumption. Since someone had to travel a certain distance carrying their water containers, fill them up, and then carry them all the way back home- several times a day. Till half a century ago, at least in India, water consumption was still in check, as the government water board would only send you the water supply for a few hours a day. People would have to fill their buckets and drums up and have to manage with only that much for the day.
Some thirty or forty years ago, as people had been wasting water so much and the population had been increasing too, our groundwater levels went further down. People started installing their private water pumps to get to the deep water and improve the water pressure, which lead to the further downfall.
Half a century ago, our chemical and plastic consumption also started. All that didn’t just start polluting our air, but also got into our water systems along with our ground (soil). As a result, our oceans are choking in plastic, our rivers are running dry because of the trash dumped and our lakes are emitting hazardous gases because of all the chemicals dumped.
But there is hope. If we only started being less wasteful and a little more mindful about things, at least we would not be contributing to this sad situation. So, here are some tips on how we can all contribute to water conservation:
• Switch to natural products and stop contaminating our water systems with chemical laden cleaning supplies and toiletries. Because of those, a lot of the used water gets wasted instead of getting reused.
• Switch to bucket baths from showers/baths
• Stop using your taps at full pressure. Not everything needs that kind of a pressure
• Turn your faucets off while washing your hands, face, shaving or brushing your teeth
• Always ensure your taps and faucets have been turned off properly before leaving your kitchens and bathrooms
• Either get your leaky faucets and flush tanks fixed or at least turn them off from the source
• Reuse the waste water from your ROs and ACs
• See if you can capture at least some of your used water and re-use it
o Water used for last washes of your lentils, rice, fruits and vegetables can easily be used for cleaning and gardening
o Water from laundry, dishwashing and so on can also be used for flushing
Only 3% of water on our planet is drinking water. And it’s only a matter of time till our over population, pollution and excessive usage turns our cities into the next Cape Town too.
Ponder on…S m i l e