Chesna Goel from Nanjing International School reminds us on the importance of reducing our water footprint.
“Don’t! We don’t want your money; just get us some food and water, please!”
Last year during the holidays, my family and I went to India, where a man, instead of accepting money, asked my uncle to buy him and the people around him food and water because that would do them more good.
Here in China, there are still around 63 million people who do not have access to clean water. Globally, some 29 percent of the world population are not able to find clean drinking services. According to the World Health Organisation, by 2025, half of the people in our world will be living in water-stressed areas.
The UN says that 5 billion people will lack safe, clean water by 2050.
Water is literally a matter of life and death, yet so much of it is wasted. There are so many ways that we can save water, and in the process we can save ourselves a lot of money on our water bill. Tempting, right? Herein but three examples of how we can reduce our water footprints.
Start by taking shorter showers. Some showers use over 20 litres of water every minute. By reducing your shower time by 5 minutes every day you could save around 3,000 litres a month. What’s even better is that you could take a bath. Partially filling up a tub uses less water than showers in most scenarios, unless you’re the type of person who’s in the shower for a few seconds and then right out. Definitely not me! Plus taking a bath sounds so much more relaxing.
Do you have any dehumidifiers in your homes? I know that we have one in our basement and after a day or two, it is filled with water. Don’t throw it down the drain; use it to water the plants. Wherever in Nanjing I go there is a lot of greenery. Maybe water some of the trees or bushes outside your home.
Finally, and still in a green vein, let’s look at plants and gardening. Plants, like all organisms, need water to survive, but instead of watering them during the hottest times of the day or when the sun is directly above, water them in the early morning or at the end of the day. This way, all of the water won’t start to evaporate immediately or soon after because of the heat, and the plants will get the most water. Plus, if you do that by hand, you can save up to 33 percent of water, instead of using sprinklers.
Change starts here. Make a difference. Because as W.H. Auden once said, “Thousands have lived without love, not one without water”.
