{"id":41,"date":"2016-06-21T03:12:18","date_gmt":"2016-06-21T09:12:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ntotank.com\/blog\/?p=41"},"modified":"2016-09-17T23:43:25","modified_gmt":"2016-09-18T05:43:25","slug":"the-need-to-conserve-water","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ntotank.com\/blog\/the-need-to-conserve-water","title":{"rendered":"The need to conserve water"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Water<\/p>\n

Do you know how much water is required by a human being on a daily basis? Is fresh water an unlimited resource? The jeans that you are wearing \u2013 does it require water? Let us try to answer these questions and some more to understand that precious resource \u2013 water.<\/p>\n

For many of us, water is so seamlessly available that the mere thought of conserving water sounds ridiculous. The realization that water is after all a limited resource might come as an unpleasant surprise. Now let us analyze an adult\u2019s various touch points of water. We need water for drinking, cooking, bathing, clothing and dish washing, flushing, indoor and outdoor cleaning and gardening. On an average an urban dweller in the United States will use around 80-100 gallons per day. Now what is the source of this water?<\/p>\n

Less than 3% of the world\u2019s water resource is fresh. The remaining 97% is saline and undrinkable. Out of the 3% fresh water reserves, close to 2.5% is locked up\/ frozen in glaciers in Antarctica and the Arctic. Hence we are dependent on the remaining 0.5%.<\/p>\n

\"waterdist\"<\/p>\n

Graph: World Water Distribution<\/em><\/p>\n

This quantum is available either as ground water from wells or surface water from lakes, rivers or reservoirs. Both these sources get replenished by rainwater precipitation and in some cases through glacial melt off. Rainwater precipitation will consistently fall between a high and low value. Consequently, the quantum of replenishment is not going to increase with time. But if our consumption keeps increasing \u2013 either due to increased population or profligacy with regards to water usage, then we might soon be in a spot of bother.<\/p>\n

The other invisible aspect of water usage is in the products that we use or consume \u2013 the food that we eat, dress that we wear or even the car that we drive. For instance, to grow 1 kg of wheat anywhere between 150 to 1000 gallons of water is needed and to produce 1 kg of meat requires anywhere between 1300 to 5200 gallons of water. A pair of jeans needs 1800 gallons of water which is used to grow the cotton for making the jeans. There are varying estimates for the water required to make the steel that goes into the car, but it is nothing less than 30,000 gallons of water. Interesting numbers, aren\u2019t they? The intent of presenting these facts is to create awareness on the enormous dependency on water which is not visible to the end consumer. I did not know the interlink between water and gasoline\/ diesel fuel till recently when one of the major oil refining units in the state of Karnataka in India, had to shut down\/ downsize operations for a few days owing to acute water shortage. This led to shortage of fuel supply to the entire state of Karnataka.<\/p>\n

\"020920112897\"<\/p>\n

\"020920112899\"<\/p>\n

Illustration: A dried open well in Bangalore<\/em><\/p>\n

As a famous someone said, \u201cYou cannot manage what you can\u2019t measure\u201d, it is important that we get a sense of how much we are consuming as our first step towards water conservation. It could be more or less than the national average or your next door neighbor \u2013 but the key is to be more involved in knowing about water usage and thereby taking baby steps towards water conservation.<\/p>\n

References:<\/strong><\/p>\n