Water resourcing

I had not made the association between frequent sights on the road of loaded motor cycles with water cans and the current water scarcity, till I received a notice from the administration of the hospital where I work that there would be only six hours of piped in water supply in the campus. In fact we have monsoon rains for over six months in Kerala. It is a surprise that we have drought like condition here. 

This motor cyclist would sell all these plastic water cans in one day. People like these cans to gather and store water. Women would use these as head load while carrying water, often walking long distances. They are affordable to buy and last only one season, as they are made of thin plastic. I am not even sure whether it has the prescribed quality meant for plastic vessels when used to store water.

This is what disturbs me. I often notice people leaving the tap running, during brushing teeth or shaving, which would mean that in three minutes of brushing the teeth, they would waste about twenty litres of water. We need only two litres to brush teeth if water  is used judiciously. We would use only two and half litres of water for washing hands if we were to use a mug to draw water from a bucket, where as we would use almost ten litres while washing hands in running water. It is because we do not close the tap while applying soap on the hands.   

We are yet to conserve rain water adequately. It is not a practice even in places where water is needed in large quantity. The rain water gets washed away into drains. It is not even collected for ground water resourcing.

I believe, there is much greater scope to save water if each of us were to change our water consumption practices. Water is one natural resource which is getting depleted fast. 

M.C.Mathew( text and photo)