Contributed by: Gayatri Y
- Wash fruit and vegetables in a bowl rather than with running water
- a five minute shower uses about a third of the water of a bath (although a power shower will use the same amount of water as a bath in less than five minutes)
- try not to leave the tap running when you brush your teeth – rinse out from a tumbler instead
- Eggs release nutrients when you boil them. If you use the water once it's cooled for watering houseplants, they will appreciate the extra nourishment
- Resist the urge to start your washing machine or dishwasher until you have a full load. The average wash needs about 95 liters. A full load uses less water than two half loads
- use the minimum amount of water required when making a cup of tea – so you'll save energy as well as water
- keep a jug of water in the fridge instead of running taps to get cold water
- Use the dirty water when cleaning a fish tank on your houseplants. It's rich in nitrogen and phosphorus, which are excellent fertilizers
- you can use less water by turning the hot tap down, rather than the cold tap up
- cotton wool and tissues should be put in a waste bin rather than flushed down the toilet
- Turning the taps off when you brush your teeth can save up to five litres a minute.
- Use rainwater for garden watering and washing machines. This can save up to 50% of household water use (according to the Environment Agency)
- spray taps on hand basins save up to 80% of the water
- dual flush and low-flush toilets can cut household water by up to 20%, and save more than half the water used in flushing toilets
- plan your building's plumbing system so that both water and energy savings can be made
Girls drop out of school either because they have to help fetch water or because there aren't adequate sanitary facilities in school toilets. Millions of school days are lost as a result.
Water scarcity affects some parts of the world more than others. Today, 800 million people live under a threshold of "water stress." As rivers dry up, lakes shrink and groundwater reserves get depleted, that figure will rise to 3 billion in 2025, especially in parts of Asia and Africa. There is an urgent need to reduce waste and invest in infrastructure to "harvest" rainwater or increase storage.
Most water use is in agriculture. Farming uses up to 70 times more water than is used for cooking and washing. Many countries have to import more than half their food needs because they do not have enough water to grow more food. If we do not change the way we use water, the amount needed for a rapidly growing world population will double in the next 50 years.
Corruption makes responding to the problem of scarcity more difficult. Up to 40 percent of water is lost to water leakages in pipes and canals, one of the main causes of which is illegal tapping. The increase in the cost of water, as a result, affects the poor more than others.
But the water crisis hits cities in the rich world as well — Houston and Sydney, for example, are using more water than is replenished. Australia is the world's driest continent, where increasing salinity in water is threatening agriculture. Large parts of Europe are affected by recurring droughts.
''Water is a precious commodity, and more importantly, it is life. Wars are fought over who will have control of water. Many die daily due to lack of freshwater and there are people who wash their pavements daily!''
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