Flush less, keep out PET bottles: Dictates for water conservation

Conservation could well begin at home. For the environment ministry, it begins at its office, the Paryavaran Bhawan at Jor Bagh in Delhi — at the insistence of minister Harsh Vardhan, who has asked staff to flush less water in toilets and do away with PET water bottles from conferences and offices.

An official sought to explain the minister’s idea.

Each flush tank has 5-litre capacity. By putting in a bottle or a harmless object into it, each tank saves about a litre of water.

Now, when 140 toilets in Paryavaran Bhavan flush five times a day on an average (back of the envelope calculation by the minister) for 240 days a year, the ministry will be able to save 1,68,000 litres or 168 tonnes of water annually. The minister’s other conservation measure is replacing PET bottles with small glasses of water.

But wouldn’t that mean more working hours?

“No keep small glasses and even people can take water from a container/big bottle as per their requirements. That saves water,” pat comes reply from another official.

So is the minister planning to spread the message to other ministries? “Let us (ministry building) be an example (first), then we will urge others to follow suit,” the official said.

The other catchment area of the minister is on meeting the morning walkers in parks, and urging them to cycle a day.

OTHER CATCHMENT AREA OF THE MINISTER IS ON MEETING THE MORNING WALKERS IN PARKS, AND URGING THEM TO CYCLE A DAY