Water, Water Everywhere!!!

रहिमन पानी राखिये, बिन पानी सब सून,
पानी गए न उबरे, मोती, मानस, चुन !!!

Even saint Kabir knew at that time that water is the most precious resource known to man. Sad that only a few of us realize it in the 21st century. It is now a universally accepted fact that the 3rd World War will surely be for water. And still, what does the common man do to conserve it?

We, as Indians, use, or rather waste, water in every activity we do in the whole day. Even ours Gods are no less; they too want their followers to offer them clean, pure potable water! If only God would himself be present in the idol, he would sure be laughing on the stupidity of human beings, needlessly draining away gallons of water without any purpose. And God only knows what blessings the people receive for wasting the most valuable resource given to them.

A single flush in your toilet consumes as much water as would be enough to provide drinking water for a child for a whole day. The amount of water you waste once in a bathtub will provide for the cooking needs of a family of four for a whole month. The watering of your plants everyday takes up as much potable water as used by 12 adults in the whole day. And then there are frequent leaks, spills and bursts in your pipelines and through your taps. Still, if you say you conserve water, then you sure know you are wrong.

Millions of people in the world live on less than 3 gallons per day, while an average American uses 160 gallons every day. 1 in 5 people don’t have access to safe drinking water. A child dies due to a water related disease in every 15 seconds. The rate of increase of water use is double the rate of population increase in the last century. Fresh water on our planet is expected to finish before oil does. Still, most of us would like to keep our taps open while brushing and shaving, and will take 30 minute showers. We would love to wash our cars every weekend, and would be proud to own a house with a personal swimming pool.

The himalayan rivers are the fastest degrading ones in the world according to a survey. Rivers, which are given the status of goddesses in our country, are being drained by industrial and domestic effluents. And what do we do? We would just enjoy having our coffee on Sunday morning, reading in the newspaper about the same and would comment on how much our country is degrading because of the people doing so. Do you even know what part you are playing in the same, and will you ever realize it too?

So, when do you start? I know it is already too late, but better late than never. Even if something is to be done, it has to start right now, whoever and wherever you are. You can start with minimising the wastage of water at home and at workplace. It would be real fun if you try and calculate how much water you saved every day, because I think everyone of us can save atleast the amount of water needed for three people for the whole day, everyday. So, each of us have a golden opportunity to change the lives of three people for the whole life! The next step will be to try and make others change, and is the most difficult. It is very difficult to make people understand and even more so to make them follow.

In the end, I would like to thank you for reading, half of the job is done for you, and the rest is now upto you, to change yourself and others. I would be more than happy if I were able to change even one person by my writing about it, and I want that one person to be you! The biggest source of happiness is making others happy, the biggest source of knowledge is educating others and the biggest source of bringing about some change is changing yourself. I hope you do!

THANK YOU!!!