“Turn the tap off!” I scream.
“I am brushing!” comes the reply in a harsh voice that is several decibels above mine.
“Are you brushing with water or are you brushing with your toothbrush? Turn the thing off!!”
Does that sound a little too familiar? Has that happened to you? Yeah? Even if it hasn’t happened to you, you surely have heard about it from many people. That is because water is becoming scarce by the day on the face of the Earth and turning the water supply off whilst brushing your teeth is the least you can do to help avert the impending doom.
How will turning off the tap whilst brushing help, you ask? In reply, I’ll ask you to do a little experiment. When you brush in the morning tomorrow, place a mug under the tap. Let all the water flowing out of the tap from the time you start brushing to the time you actually need the water to wash your mouth and your brush collect in the mug. You will be surprised to see that more often than not even the mug will overflow. Each day you are wasting that much amount of water. And, if you are one of those hygienic people who brush twice, then multiply that with two. Calculate that for a year now.
Most of you are surely in your late teens or in your early adulthood. Multiply the volume of water you collected with your age to get a brief idea of the water that is wasted. Remember that this is the calculation for one person alone. Do some more math and calculate the amount of water wasted by your whole family.
Baffling? Does the number prick now? Is my point clear yet? Hope you have gotten the answer to the aforementioned question.
If you haven’t, check this picture:
1.1 billion people in the world do not have access to safe drinking water, roughly one-sixth of the world’s population.
While you live in the luxury of urban living with 24 hour supply of both drinking and tap water, there are thousands in the rural parts of our country [and yes, millions across the globe] who don’t even have the luxury of tap water; let alone drinking water. They are forced to drink contaminated, dirty, sewage water to quench their thirst. They die of dehydration because of lack of water or of deadly water-borne diseases due to consumption of contaminated water. Either way, their lives are painful, excruciating and they don’t find peace until the disease finally takes them down.
If only the water you waste each day is transferred to these people, at least one person will have access to clean water. At least one person will LIVE.
Are you telling me there isn’t enough humanity in you to do that much for another helpless person?
I love writing, quite obviously. Besides that, I am completely crazy about chocolates [well, who isn't!]
On a serious note, I boast of a Postgraduate degree in Microbiology along with being an enthusiastic writer and an environment protector in my own petite ways! 