Water Day: How To Safeguard A Precious Asset
On March 22 of each year, we celebrate World Water Day, established by the United Nations in 1992 to remind everyone that water is a very precious asset to cherish and safeguard over time.
Did you know that 263 million people have to walk half an hour to get water? And that 159 million people drink unfiltered water? In some areas, as in Africa, 10% of the population procures water directly from rivers, lakes, dams, puddles, irrigation canals.
From the forecasts, the population will grow of 2 billion by 2050 and subsequently the demand for fresh and drinking water will increase by about 30%; this means that over one billion people could experience situations of lack of water in the nearest future
Most of the time we take for granted the use of water that we do not realise how lucky we are and its real value. Therefore, minimal and simple gestures can contribute to a significant saving of water if adopted by everyone. Below find some tips that can help save water every day.
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Save water every day: 10 little habits that make the difference
- Open the taps as long as necessary. Opening the tap and seeing the water flow is a habit we often take for granted. Don’t let the water run without using it! While shampooing, we brush our teeth closing the taps, we can save up to 2,000 litres of water a year;
- Frequently check all the taps and leaks in the house. A small washer that leaks could waste up to 20 litres of water a day;
- Choose the shower instead of the bathtub. Filling the bathtub involves consumption of water four times higher than in the shower. You will save, in fact, 1,200 litres of water per year;
- Install ventilated showers and taps. This system allows water to be mixed with air, increasing the jet, but at the same time reducing consumption;
- Isolate the pipes with special foam to get hot water faster, without opening showers and taps for long;
- Choose A ++ type appliances. These save up to 50% of both electricity and water consumption. For greater savings, use a washing machine and dishwasher at full load and during the evening: It can save up to 10,000 litres of water per year;
- Use the dishwasher than the hand washing for dishes, but if you can’t do without it, avoid running water while soaping!
- Soak the vegetables in instead of running water. Wash plants carefully. It would be enough to leave them absorb and then thoroughly rinsed under the jet of water to save 4,500 litres of water a year;
- Pour used water for plants, preferably in the evening. It is not necessary to use drinking water to water the plants and the vegetable garden, but you can use the one with which you washed the vegetables for example or rainwater. Also water the plants in the evening, as the water slowly evaporates and penetrates deeper into the soil;
- Grow drought-resistant plants and herbs in your garden because they won’t need much watering and irrigation during the day.Our little daily actions to save water can benefit the collectivity. Water Day is there to remind it yearly. However, we should do it regardless of any special day. Water is life but it’s not infinite.
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Letizia Grasso, Educationalist
“All grown-ups were children, but few of them remember it” This phrase is engraved on my heart. The child who marvels of small things is always with me. I firmly believe that the school should focus on the self-construction of knowledge through direct contact with the outside world and, therefore, through the experiences of life. A school open to life and from life itself learns, that therefore teaches to observe every little thing, to wonder and to ask questions. A school that forms adults who know how to reflect and put into a relationship the mind and heart.”
