Using Water Wisely

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“No water, no life.  No Blue, no Green”
                              -         Sylvia Earle

Water is an extremely essential need of life.  Unfortunately, there is a severe shortage of water in many parts of the world.  This is the very reason why we should become extremely cautious and sensitive towards the use of our water resources.  The water that is available to us presently is alarmingly decreasing, is being used without any thought and is becoming polluted. 

In the extremely hot months of summer, taps start running dry in many cities in India.  It is a common sight to see people getting up early in the mornings, calling up water tankers, filling up and storing as much of water as possible and paying a bomb for this service.

The largest user of groundwater in the world is our country.  Between the years 2000 and 2010, the depletion of groundwater in our country increased by 23%.  This is a very worrying fact to think about. 

The Greens is an apartment complex in Bangalore that has 171 flats.  It has been in existence for 10 years.  Until the year 2016, they spent about 16 lakhs every year on their water charges.  That is a huge amount of money and to have incurred that kind of billing, imagine the volume of water spent!  To curb the consumption of water and to reduce the high costs, a two-month project was undertaken to study how much water is used by each apartment.  In the study, it was found that 40 out of the 171 flats were using 70% of the total water consumption.

The Resident Welfare Association (RWA) then came up with steps to reduce water consumption and to bring down the high costs of the water bills.  These smart ideas can be followed by any RWAs across the country.

Installing Flow Meters for each apartment

Even though the usage of water defers from person to person, the RWA would divide the total bill by the number of apartments.  Despite this being an easy step to take, it was not fair on those residents who use water judiciously.  Regardless of water charges for an apartment being minimal and a few rupees here and there might not matter, it was very important for each apartment to be accountable for their consumption of water.

Installing Flow Meters for each apartment made the residents conscious of how much water they were using and if they could reduce it in some ways.  This also made them aware of the money that went into every litre of water.  It just did not make sense to have a bucket overflow with water and to have to pay some extra money for all that wastage.

This step was not meant to embarrass the residents in any way or show them in a poor light, but to highlight their water usage and to make them think of ways to save this precious resource.

For a 2BHK apartment, three separate water inlets were coming in from the Kitchen and the two Bathrooms.   What the RWA did was to connect all the three inlets to a single point on the terrace and install a Flow Meter there.   Despite the high cost of 24 Lakhs, which meant Rs.14,000/- for each apartment, it made sense in the long run – to levy a fine on heavy users and to provide incentives to those who saved water.

Rainwater Harvesting

When fresh rainwater flows down the roofs of houses and goes into drains or floods the streets, it meets with an unfortunate end.  And the amount of water runs up to thousands of litres.  This natural resource can be stored by housing societies for the benefit of its residents.  There is a fair amount of rainfall that is received in the cities in India that can be taken advantage of and that is exactly what the RWA at The Greens did.   A rainwater harvesting system takes only 15 days to install, as against three months for both a Flow Meter and a Sewage Treatment Plant.

Even though the installation of this system cost the RWA an amount of 5 Lakhs, ultimately, it was worth every penny of the investment.  Two separate filters were installed on every terrace of the housing society.  PVC pipes connected these filters to borewell recharge points and to underground sumps too.  The water pumps were recharged every time it rained, reducing the dependency on water tankers.

When it rained one day for close to two hours, the housing society was able to collect 1,04,000 litres of water, which it was able to use for two full days.  What an amazing amount of water they are saving daily!

Reusing water through a Sewage Treatment Plant (STP)

Water that is used in households for doing the dishes or washing clothes is called Wastewater or Greywater that can be reused in toilets and gardens.  There is no direct contact with this kind of water.   

At The Greens, the STP was redirecting the water only to the gardens.  Excess water used to be sent away.  But in recent years, the RWA started directing this water to the toilets of the residents.  Due to the STPs, 2 to 3 litres of water are saved every day. 

The above initiatives have not only reduced the consumption of water and saved money, but they have also inspired residents to go green.  Today, people are becoming aware of their water consumption patterns and thinking about different ways to reduce water wastage.  For example, water-saving adaptors are installed in their kitchen sinks. 

In Conclusion

RWAs can educate their residents periodically about the importance of water conservation and the need for this precious resource to remain on this earth for future generations.  It is an equal responsibility of the RWAs and their residents to work together to save water.

Green Clean India (www.greencleanindia.com) is an initiative to exhibit the collective power of Housing Societies, by providing a common platform across the country to interact and exchange thoughts that best suit community living. For details on how we can help you make lifestyle changes, do contact us at +919717938018 or write to us at wecare@greencleanindia.com