Vedang Sinha loved his large joint family of 18 members. He enjoyed playing with his elder sister and six cousins after school, getting pampered by his parents, aunts and uncles, listening to stories from his grandparents before sleeping every night. There was always a celebratory atmosphere in the Sinha household and meal times were feasts with lots of food and chatter. If someone were to ask Vedang to live without his boisterous and happy family even for a single day, he wouldn’t have been able to do it.
But, right now, there was a gloomy atmosphere in their house. All because of the water shortage in Bengaluru. The water in the overhead tank just wasn’t enough for the entire family. By evening, the flowing taps only sent out a trickle, making everyone cranky and ill-tempered.
No showers
For Vedang especially, it was torture not being able to have his evening shower after his cricket practice. He felt hot, sticky and smelly if he couldn’t bathe. So, every morning before he left for school, he began to fill a bucket of water in the morning and leave it in the bathroom for his after-game wash. But, sadly, his three uncles got wind of it and had started helping themselves to the stored water.
By the time Vedang returned home late in the evening, there was barely enough water left for him to wash his face and hands. So he tried to have a towel bath by soaking the towel in the water and sponging himself down. But not being able to bathe had made him grumpy.
One evening, he pulled out his notebook to write the essay his English teacher Mrs. Kulkarni had assigned to his class. The topic was “Water is life. Don’t waste it, else there will be strife.’
It was a timely and crucial theme, as Bengaluru was facing its worst water shortage in decades. People had started fighting for water tankers. The domestic help at home has been complaining that there was a scarcity of water in their area. So they had started bathing in the Sinha house and carrying water for drinking and cooking from there. All this put an extra pressure on the water situation in Vedang’s house.
Ideas brewing
As Vedang wrote his essay, several ideas brewed in his head. He began to jot down tips to save water.
1. No showers until the water situation improves. Only a bucket bath with each person getting one and half buckets. Maybe two for those engaged in sports. That would give him some extra water.
2. Taps must be turned off while brushing teeth and shaving.
3. No wasting water by washing cars; just wipe them down with a wet cloth.
4. Leaking taps must be fixed ASAP. Else the family member whose washroom taps are leaking will be fined.
5. Vegetables must not be washed in running water. Rinse them in a water-filled dish.
6. Avoid using too many vessels in the kitchen to reduce the water used to wash them. Preferable cook one pot meals.
7. Wear light clothes that require less water to be washed.
8. Switch on the washing machine only after it is fully loaded.
Once he had all these points down, Vedang began to make small posters urging everyone to turn off taps while brushing and shaving and stuck them up next to all the wash basins, as a reminder to everyone to not waste water.
Next, he went around each wash room in the house to check for leakages. He found two taps flowing and called the plumber to repair them immediately. He insisted on having flow restrictors installed on all shower heads and taps to reduce output and reduce usage and wastage.
After talking to his grandfather, he filled empty bottles with pebbles and rocks and placed them into the toilet tanks. This meant less water was required to fill the tank and the amount of water flushed out was also reduced.
“With this, we can save up to 30 litres of water per day,” Vedang said.
“That’s a lot of water,” said his grandpa, stroking his head.
Within a few days of incorporating these changes, the Sinha house began to notice the difference. Grumpy faces now beamed, as everyone including the staff had sufficient water for their needs.
Doing more
“Can we install a rainwater-harvesting system in our house?” Vedang asked his grandfather.
“I was thinking of the same thing,” came the reply. “When the monsoon begins and it starts raining, rainwater harvesting will help us collect and store water for later use. In fact, I am going to discuss this with the entire neighbourhood during the Residents Welfare Association meeting today. I want you to make several posters that I can hand around to all the members to stick in it their houses.”
Vedang looked delighted. His ideas were not just getting noticed but also utilised. He immediately made many posters with points to help people save water and also small cards that the members could paste near their wash basin as daily reminders to save water. If everyone worked together, they could save the precious water. After all water is life.
