Every
Sunday, 84-year-old Aabid Surti, an award winning Indian author, goes
door-to-door to correct leaky taps in the Mumbai suburbs of Mira Road, his
neighborhood. He goes around asking if there are any leaks that can be fitted.
“We are offering free plumbing service, Is there any leakage in your bathroom,
toilet, or kitchen,” asks Surti. The activity takes him a couple of hours, but
it could save liters of water, something India is short of. The octogenarian is
much better known for many of his other vocations. He wears many hats- authors,
painter, cartoonist, and a screen-play writer. The additional feather is that
of an environmentalist. With the launch of latest book ‘Sufi’, Surti has penned
over 80 books till date along with seven plays. He was given the President’s
Award for his book named ‘Teesri Aankh’ in 1993.
He
is Mumbai city’s ‘Water Warrior’ and introduced a water conservation model in
2007 through his ‘One-man’ NGO, Drop Dead Foundation. ‘Whenever I see a tap
dripping, my heart beats. I just get disturbed,” he says. And this choice came
after he saw his mother’s struggles during his humble beginnings. “I was
brought up at the pavement, and I have seen my mother standing in the queue for
long hours to get just a bucket full of water. I have seen people fighting over
water,” Surti says. His crusade to save water started when he read somewhere
that in one second if one drop falls then in one month, thousand liters of
water goes down the drain. Between 2007 and 2008, he visited 1,666 houses at
Mira Road to fix over 500 leaky faucets and saved 4.14 million liters of water.
“We have conserved 20 million liters in ten years,” he said. He is now
inspiring more young crusaders like him, and his model is now a part of school
books.
ARE
YOU WASTING WATER?
Here
is how you can avoid wasting water by incorporating these simple changes:
1) You probably don’t think twice about giving your
dusty terrace or porch a quick rinse with a hose, but it is a wasteful way to
keep your home tidy. Considering that a garden hose can emit between 6 and 24
gallons of water per minute, you are much better off sweeping your outdoor
living areas with a broom.
2) According to the Royal Horticultural Society, the
best time to water most outdoor plants is in the early morning or evening. This
is because watering in the afternoon can lead to water loss through
evaporation, since it is generally the warmest part of the day. That is not
good for your plants or your budget.
3) If you have been looking for an excuse to indulge in
a new shower head, here is one- when you install a high-efficiency faucet
aerator or shower head, you can save almost 3,500 gallons of water per year.
That adds up to major savings and is better for the environment.
4) Fixing a leaky faucet is no one’s idea of an
exciting afternoon, but letting leaky fixtures drip can cost you serious cash
and waste water. According to the US Environmental Protection agency, a leaking
faucet can waste up to 3,000 gallons per year.
5) Even highly-efficient modern washing machines
typically use 8 to 12 gallons of water per cycle, according to laundry machine
maker Samsung. Although it is not good practice to stuff your washing machine
to the max, running this water hungry appliance with just a few items of
clothing inside is a serious waste of resources and money.
