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Why waste water as crisis situation looms large?

Pari Saikia | New Delhi |

As the world celebrates March 22 as World Water Day, it is a grim reminder of the prevailing water crisis across the world and the need to conserve water. The UN's theme this year is 'Wastewater'. Last year, in 2016, it was 'Water and Jobs'.

“Today, 1.8 billion people use a source of drinking water contaminated with faeces, putting them at risk of contracting cholera, dysentery, typhoid and polio,” a UN-Water report stated.

According to the report, globally 663 million people are living without access to clean water sources. The worst scenario is that every day, over 800 children below the age of five die due to consuming contaminated water over inadequate or zero supply of clean water.

On March 21, a day ahead of World Water Day, a report by the UN International Children's Emergency Fund (Unicef), revealed that almost 600 million kids worldwide would face shortage of potable water, living in areas with extremely limited water resources by 2040.

These reports are enough to warn every human who are yet to consider water shortage as a serious threat to mankind.

One of the targets of Sustainable Development Goals is to ensure access to safe water to every human by 2030. Access to safe water will also help fight against extreme poverty globally.

The world is fighting hard to tackle water shortage threats and save each drop from being wasted through slew of awareness campaigns, programmes, mechanism, advocacy or policies.

There is no denying that water is as precious as our life. Some of the routine things that all humans must apply to make effective and limited use of water keeping the shortage of water in mind are:

1. Do not overuse water or waste unnecessarily in washing your vehicles, cleaning houses, bathing cattles or playing pool party at home.

2. Serve water for drinking as per the person's thirst or once consumption capacity. Make sure you ask the person first and then fill up the glass to avoid wastage.

3. Reuse hard water left from washing clothes, dishes, cleaning vehicles, new houses, floors etc.

4. Avoid taking shower or using bathtub and use bucket instead for bathing to avoid wasting water.

5. Stop the habit of keeping your water tap on while brushing your teeth, washing clothes, dishes or while applying soaps.

6. Keep a check on your water tanks. Make sure that your water motor is immediately switched off once the water tanks are filled.

7. Bought a bottle of 1 litre packaged drinking water and can't finish it? Don't throw away, instead offer to a poor.

8. Gallons of untreated water discharged from agriculture, domestic and industries can now be treated for further reuse, all thanks to technology. Learn from dedicated water agencies on wastewater treatment.

9. Lastly, try to save every drop of water and educate others on this for a better tomorrow.

On this Water Day, let’s pledge together to tackle water crises by being a responsible human and save water as every drop counts for the existing as well as future mankind.