Don’t water down the import of saving water
Our morning ordeal began with no water in the taps as my sibling shouted from the washroom to turn on the motor. Dad quickly followed his son’s instruction but call it his bad luck or sheer coincidence, there was no electricity. A few minutes later, the power came much to our relief, but it was shortlived as another complaint from the bathroom confirmed that the water was not reaching the tank on the terrace.
Dad went looking to fix the problem on priority. Mom and I joined him on the mission but in vain. Calling a plumber early in the morning wasn’t practical and neither was waiting for the erratic spurt of fresh water for it could take hours. We couldn’t afford the delay.
So, dad got to the root of the problem when he lifted the cover of the underground water tank only to discover that it had gone dry. Cordial terms with neighbours bore dividends for they addressed our problem on a temporary basis by agreeing to supply us with a few buckets of water for the day.
Thereon, water was to our family what gold is to a poor man. We wondered what would have happened, if God forbid, the neighbours had refused to help or if we didn’t have the resources to refill the underground tank by paying an extra buck to the private water supplier.
The tormenting trial of the day without water taught us a lesson for life about the critical significance of this precious resource. We are now forthright in checking anyone wasting water. Our taps remain closed while we brush our teeth, and we specify with clear-cut instructions over the quantity of water to be used in flushing the toilet. The pipe has taken a back seat as dad now cleans his car with a wet cloth, and mom too dons the mantle of a miser customer while working at the sink of the kitchen. I exhorted my sibling not to waste fresh water being supplied at the cost of our limited non-renewable natural resources. Dad shared a childhood anecdote to explain why his generation respects water more than ours.
Be it kids or adults, everyone in his family was entrusted upon getting up early to fetch water from a common well in the village situated a few kilometres away to avoid the heavy rush of the day. Forsaking their sound sleep, they would carry pitchers filled to the brim on their heads, minding every step forward to ensure that not a drop was wasted. The same act would be repeated in the evening with no weekends off.
Mom found echo in dad’s words as it was an unavoidable exercise that she had also practised before her wedding and the same travail trailed her after marriage until the laying of the pipes.
To sensitise today’s youngsters about saving water at every step of their life is of utmost urgency for they’ve got accustomed to taking the most precious element on the planet for granted by means of a few turns of the tap. We cannot water down one question that we all have pretended to ignore for long. What will happen if our taps run dry the next moment and we learn to our absolute terror that there is no water left to be bought?
TO SENSITISE YOUNGSTERS IS OF UTMOST URGENCY FOR THEY’VE GOT ACCUSTOMED TO TAKING THE MOST PRECIOUS ELEMENT ON THE PLANET FOR GRANTED