Water Woes
Saturday, September 26, 2009
Be careful what you wish for,'Cause you just might get it all.
`Chris Daughtry
I should have thought about it about a month ago when I was praying "Rain Rain Go Away".I got exactly what I wished for. And unfortunately, that is where the trouble begins. Rain's gone, our lakes half full and we don't have enough water for the year ahead until the next replenishing period(The Monsoons).Basically we've got very limited amount of water to last us all year long.So what should anybody with a finite amount of resource do?Recycle what they got?Well those 3 R's (Reduce, Reuse and Recycle) that the environmentalists and lovers of mother nature(me included) keep talking about are methods for the rich nations to adopt and for the poorer ones to watch in awe. The most we(developing lot) can do is to reduce wastage and ration whatever we got until the next showers.And rationing the water resource they(city officials) are, much to the liking and comfort of the common man like me.
How exactly do we ration something like water in a reservoir/lake?The answer: Provide water to people only for a limited period during a day(Morning and Evening). As for the usage during the rest of the day, we just have to store water in personal storage tanks, buckets,etc and if we are lucky we would have enough to last for the day.And when we realise we may not have enough, we take the opportunity for a family eat out.No cooking => no washing dishes => less usage of scarce water.I know people who get water to their homes only in the wee hours of the morning or late at night. I have seen my neighbours fight over water and heard of people taking their water woes to the police.(Wonder what the Police can do to help though). I wake up every morning and the first thing I check is the tap. When I flip the newspapers, I first look for any news about water cuts before reading the cover story. All this sure has been an 'exciting' experience for me because we have been quite lucky so far to have managed pretty well for most days.For most of the people in India this is just a part of their life. But what about all those millions in other parts of the world who are in much much much worse conditions than us.Did you ever wonder how they survive? I do now.
For all you kids from countries where the taps provide water like the atmosphere provides us oxygen(that is-24 hours x 7days, all year long) and for those from the Little Red Dot(Singapore) which is not only able to buy water from the neighbours but can even turn sh*t used water into "New" Water, the next time you turn your tap think about the kids in Africa who have to walk for hours to get their water for the day.
Hope you choose not to waste what you've got as a privilege.
And Hope I think twice before I wish for something in future...
9:56 PM Back to top
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All about me
14 years in India : Montfort School, Orissa4.5 AWESOME years in Singapore : St Joseph's Institution; Catholic Junior College; Outdoor Adventure Club; 102-C ; Frisk and Romp
Now: Back In India, Navi Mumbai to be exact.
Future: Wanna be an AWESOME Computer Engineer who builds cool,intelligent robots which can follow me on my expeditions to the farthest corners on this planet.
Interests: Mountains; Nature; Frisbee; Soccer; Running.