I already knew it. It is going to come. Maybe if I will not see it in my life, my next generation will see it and will curse the previous generations that they did not do anything to improve the situation.
But the moment I read a couple of articles at below links, I knew something has to be done pretty fast:
I still remember some gentleman saying to me “Anything which is in abundance is considered free”
Delegates and negotiators (a strange term given to people considering that this summit was meant to improve the future with collective effort) representing almost 200 nations sat down for 12 days at Copenhagen
Out of all the environment issue the one which stands out for me at the moment is WATER. This is something which is essential for any living creature (part of pancha-tatva in Hindu mythology). This is something which, if we start now can be saved and will serve as a lifeline for millions in years to come.
Thought process!!
Then, I thought what can I do as an individual?
We see, lots of information coming in newspapers, government notice, NGO’s. They tell what we need to do to conserve water and how? These are good, but what we need now is innovative ways in which this can be done. Ways in which the whole society empathizes with the need and participates in the cause.
My thoughts will now concentrate on how an individual can think about water and think about ways this can be contained in the process.
I as an individual have seen water being wasted in following ways:
· Washing Clothes– Most of the washing machines existing today take too much of water. The ones which exist who claim to use less water are damn expensive
· Washing vehicles – Washing vehicles with tap water? There goes the precious water. If washing directly through pipe, no end to the wastage. Can’t we use recycled water?
· Bathing – We enjoy a nice hot shower for hours, or enjoy soaking in a bath tub. What about the water used? Can’t we bathe with a single bucket of water? Can’t we use recycled water from the previous bath?
· Sewages – Sewage treatment plants can recycle our shit into something which is precious and which can be used for washing vehicles, gardening, or funneled back to flushing pipes.
· Gardening – Fresh water from tap is used for gardening. Can’t we reuse recycled water?
· Irrigation – Gallons of water is still used in the same old fashion of irrigation. Same old canals are used to bring water to the field, who in the process leak precious water to the ground before it reaches the field. Can’t we have better canals and use drip irrigation?
· Rain water – Most of the water just go down the drain instead of recharging ground water.
· Bore wells – Due to non existing network of water supply by civic authorities, people mostly depend on groundwater. Rampant digging of bore wells is depleting the ground water. We have witnessed areas where pumps have gone dry as water level has gone below.
These are some of the areas which just come to everybody’s mind. For a lot of questions, we as an individual can easily start contributing.
However, out of the above there some areas where we need assistance from government and society. Some of these areas are irrigation, sewage water treatment, rain water harvesting, and reducing bore wells. Why need assistance, simply because these are monetary intensive areas.
Ideating!!
Consider a real life situation. We are having sewage treatment plant. We were happy, till one fine day we realized that we need a pollution control certificate for a nominal fee. We were still okay, but then realized that to get that certificate we need to pay a bribe. There is no way out. If you don’t pay, they will certainly find out some shortcoming due to which you will have to pay a hefty fine. Now we very well know none of the environment related work done by current builders is of top class quality and is bound to have gaps.
This is one example of government’s way of implementation of environment measures “Enforcement by pressure”. This is not going to work, what we need is “Enforcement by participation”.
One innovative way this can be done is by a PPP model, which can be participation between a private/NGO/government and individuals. Consider below business model:
“An innovative /private company approaches an apartment association and strikes a deal. As per the deal the authority will install treatment plant, install rain water harvesting and maintain these plants. The water treated and purified can be used by the association. The association will pay for the maintenance charges and the received purified water as per pay-as-you use plan. It will be mandatory for the association to use this water for gardening, washing vehicles and if possible in flushes. The water that still remains can be funneled back to the company’s central collection area. This water can be either sold for reusable purpose or can be used to recharge ground water”.
This simple mechanism can remove enormous complexities, remove middle men and will invoke a sense of participation in people.
Road Ahead!!
The need of an hour is a collective thinking and coming up with innovative ideas which create a climate of collaboration. History has shown that work is fun when enjoyed, not forced.
For water, what we need is zero wastage policy, similar to what we have in space stations.
I already see a lot of interest getting generated in individual for this and will see positive outcomes in near future. After all we need to be positive.
Acknowledgements!!
www for the picture of drop.
