Water is precious – do not waste it

We all know that three fourth of the Earth’s surface consists of water and water bodies like the Dal Lake of Kashmir or the Hussainsagar Lake in Hyderabad or the Ulsoor Lake in Bangalore or the Rabindra Sarobar in Kolkata are the pride of the respective cities. Unfortunately, lack of maintenance and environmental pollution have resulted in them losing their charms.
People flock to artificial water parks to enjoy splashing in the waters and, till now, this precious commodity is available in abundance but, it will not last for ages. Our planet Earth supports living beings because of the availability of water and, whenever probes are sent to outer space, one of the mandatory exercises scheduled for them is to search for the presence of water.
If traces are discovered, it is presumed that living beings would not be far away and the ever enterprising Man could think of migrating to that alien location. Scientists have discovered some well laid channel-like affairs on the Martian soil and, proof is still awaited as to whether it is what we are searching for.
Water is most essential to our bodies; it is customary to offer a glass of water to any guest who drops in. As the machinery of the body functions, it consumes the water that is generated automatically by the body system, and hence regular replenishment is a must. We, therefore, drink water.
Once upon a time, it was the pure water drawn from the wells or the water pumped out manually from tube wells. But, over the years, the underground water reserve has depleted or has got contaminated. The contamination levels in some cases is harmful to those who consume it – hence, those who still use water from these sources have to get it filtered. In this connection, the pollution of river waters due to untreated effluents being discharged into the nearest body of water needs to be controlled since it has a direct bearing on marine life. Frequently we hear of dead fish rising to the surface of the water due to the presence of poisonous chemicals in the water.
With the growing population in the large cities, central storage systems have evolved; water is transported through huge pipelines for the benefit of consumers in the cities. The water is stored in large lakes and the availability is dependent on timely arrival of the monsoons. Then there are some parts of the country where water is brought in tankers and distributed to the village folks – here again, the water tankers come on specific days hence villagers have to store the precious commodity in any and every type of container available. In spite of regular Public Interest ads shown in the TV requesting people to stop wasting water, we see public taps which are always open - the control mechanism is missing, resulting in continuous outflow of water.
And, in metros, there is a craze for bottled water – in view of the spread of water borne diseases, no one wants to drink water that might lead to illness. The bottled water helps mitigate their sufferings. And, for variety, there are cold drinks offered by the MNCs and promoted by stars of the cricket world or of the film fraternity.