“Water has no taste, no color, no odor; it cannot be defined, art relished while ever mysterious. Not necessary to life, but rather life itself. It fills us with a gratification that exceeds the delight of the senses.”ANTOINE DE SAINT-EXUPERY

Recently published data reports that some one billion people are chronically undernourished and 100,000 people die of starvation every day, 16,000 of whom are children.  Unfortunately, it’s only going to get worse! With a projected 50% increase in our global population within the next 40 years, 80% of whom will be living in or near urban areas, we must take steps now to plan for future generations.  As a result, increasing global awareness of land and water use has become front page news & something which each of us need to address and take steps

I have grown up in India, having lived most of my years in Bombay. I lived 2 years in Madras (Chennai) where there is a perennial water shortage.  When water  is available  24*7  we rarely realize the value of water and take it for granted.

In my two years in Madras, I realized the importance of saving water, and the pain of storing water and rationing its use.  In many parts of India, including Bombay, there are houses and condominiums that get water from a water truck (tankers as they are called in Bombay) on a daily basis since there is no regular supply of water. Clearly there is a huge water shortage & with the growing population things can only get worse.

It is a common site  in India to watch people fighting in the streets and/or queuing for access to fresh water, which is in limited supply.  Conservation of water is of utmost importance and More so for countries like India, which battles with ever-growing population and faces the fear of drought with lack of monsoons.

What the Water Crisis Really Means for You & The Planet

We know we’re using too much water and depleting our ground water sources. But by how much? And exactly where is it going? And which steps improve water use? In these ways, accounting for water consumption is much like trying to account for carbon emissions—we ask the same questions about how we account for it, so that we can know how to measure it, so that we can know how to cut back and if the cut-back measures are effective. While the accounting may seem difficult, we know we have to do it because—as we noted when we discussed sustainability earlier this month—we know we aren’t being sustainable with our water consumption and we know we have to change. For full article please read Planet Green.

For, How can each of us make a difference, please read my Article on Earth Hour.