USING EVERY DROP OF WATER THREE TIMES
POLLUTING OUR RE- SOURCES:
We took our
rivers for granted and misused them for dumping our domestic and industrial
wastes. As a result of our carelessness the once pure river of Ganga has now
become an eye sore and a national problem. This story has been repeated with
almost all of our rivers.
We draw our
raw water from these polluted rivers to treat it and make it fit for drinking.
We also divert most of the water from these rivers to our dry lands for the
purpose of irrigation. If the raw water is contaminated with lead, arsenic,
mercury and other toxic elements the final products of potable water and food
grains made from this water will be contaminated too. – Go figure it for
yourself.
CLEANING UP THE POLLUTION:
The treatment
of drinking water is a lengthy and costly process. The governments and big
companies only, can spare the scarce capital for such large scale water
treatment plants.
Small towns
are left out of this loop and suffer a great deal on this account with make
shift arrangements. Poor villages have no option at all, but to dig wells for
their consumption of clean drinking water if they are lucky to have a high
water table below their lands.
WASTE CREATES SHORTAGE:
In short,
clean drinking water is a scarce commodity now a days. So much in short supply
that we have started bottling it in unhealthy plastic bottles and selling it at
a price which is becoming beyond the reach of the common man.
On the other
hand, our plumbing hardware designs and technology is so very out dated that we
have no choice left but to flush our toilets with this clean drinking water too
and pay the price of buying expensive water to drink. How can such an advanced
society afford to over look this aspect?
VICTIM
OF OUR CIRCUMSTANCES:
Majority of
the public is in a big dilemma to go for the new toilets which use ultra low
water amounts of water to flush or hang on to the old three / four-gallon water
flushing toilets and off set the cost of not replacing them with high water
bills every month. They choose the status quo and suffer with ever rising costs
of clean water which is definitely becoming a scarce commodity.
SIMPLE SOLUTION TO THE COMPLEX
PROBLEM:
Use every
drop of water three times before it is discarded into the sewage drains.
Install portable plastic urinals in every home between the wash basins and the toilets.
Divert the outlet of the wash basins into the urinals and the outlet of the
urinals into the cistern tanks of the toilets. There are multiple bath rooms in
every home, hence the emphases on plurals. These minor modifications can be done
locally at very low costs, but the resultant savings will add up to huge
numbers.
The new
mantra is Pee, wash hands, & store up for flushing. Pee, wash hands, and
store up. Sacrifices have to be made,
the earlier the better.
TOP PRIORITY FOR PUBLIC TOILETS:
In public
toilets the same arrangement of locating the wash basins at an elevated level,
next lower level the urinals and finally at lowest levels the toilets and
interconnecting them for a smooth flow, will work out to be extremely economical
and successful. It is a win – win solution.
GREY WATER COLLECTION AND REUSE:
It is
additionally suggested to collect all the grey water from the kitchen and bath
houses in a large plastic container with filtering facility for solids and reuse
it for flushing, gardening, floor washing, car washing or other purposes. When this
grey water is left overnight undisturbed the sediments will settle down and
clear water can be pumped up with the help of a small Tulu pump. We are in a do
or die situation, therefore choose consciously to CHANGE otherwise PERISH.
Rohit Khanna
– Industrial engineer.
