Water Conservation is necessary as the above quote says, the water cycle and our life cycle are one. Therefore, without water, our life is nothing. Water quenches everyone’s thirst, and it can not be replaced by any beverage or drink.

Here in the essay below, we will be discussing water, its elements, why we should conserve it, various steps to conserve it, water pollution, some interesting facts about water, and some water-related problems.

Introduction

Water is the most precious element. Our Mother Earth is made up of 97%

of water. But most water is salty as it is in the form of seawater which can not be used for drinking. Only about 0.5% of the water is freshwater which is fit for drinking and other purposes.

Water Conservation is nothing but conserving water for future use and limited use of it. It involves quality and quantity utilization of water.

With the regular escalation of population, there has been water scarcity to a major extent in our daily lives. Therefore, there is a need to save water to a greater extent.

Water Conservation

Water is to be saved all over the world for present, and future generations and the practice for the same is called Water Conservation. It should be an essential practice and should be practice all over the world to lessen the use of water as much as we can.

The less water we use, the less we put weight on sewage treatment plants which use quite an ample amount of energy which can also be reduced.

From the past five decades, the abstraction of freshwater from the glaciers and icebergs has stretched three times than before. The reason behind this is nothing other than fulfilling the need of water for a speedy developing population worldwide.

Saving water will make it more available to us in the future. This can be done by reducing contamination of water, overloading sewer system making the flow of untreated water in the rivers and lakes.

Also Read: Air Pollution Essay For Students

Reason To Conserve Water

Some reasons are enlisted below why we should conserve water:

• Reduce the effect of drought and water shortage: The rapid increase in population day by day is leading to in increase in water supply also. But the supply of fresh water available is constant and cannot be extended much. Our mother Earth replenishes the water with the help of water cycle, which is not always necessary that it will be replenished at the very same place. By water conservation, we can save it for future use more and more.
• Shields against rising costs: If we failed in conserving water, there would be an adequate lack of water which will directly limit the sources, rising costs of raw materials, limiting food supply, etc.
• Safeguard Mother Earth: Limited use of water, limit the energy consumption in producing it and in transporting it to homes, farms, factories, etc. It also lowers water pollution.
• Builds secure & magnificent surrounding: Hospitals, fire stations, gas stations, health clubs, gymnasium, restaurants require a large amount of water, and if we regulate the use, there can be increase and fulfillment of their requirement.
• Accessible for recreational means: Swimming pools, spas are not the only place require water for recreational purposes. But also, water is used to beautify our surroundings – lawns, gardens, filling fountains at public parks. Failing in saving water, these things are also getting lost day by day.

 Water-Related Problems

The problems related to water are water shortage, scarcity of fresh water, and water-borne diseases.

Lack of access to freshwater causes 80 of deaths around globally. Millions of children, adults, die due to water-borne disease such as – dysentery, cholera, hepatitis A, diarrhoea.

Approximation of millions to billions of people globally is unable to get proper clean water for drinking purposes. Also, they dearth proper sanitation throughout their lives. Over the past few decades, since when the world population has been increased, the need for adequate amount of fresh water has been reached the level of six times. Even United Nations has declared that by 2025, 2/3 of the world’s population will face water scarcity to a serious extent. This will make the condition even worse than today’s picture as it will become very difficult for people to meet their basic needs because of this.

Increase in the number of populations worldwide, agriculture, expansion of industrialization, and factories have increased the demand of water. In between the situation of drought, overuse, the supplies have been reduced and to make it up to the supply water has now been taken from water bodies – rivers, lakes, ponds, etc causing environmental depletion.

All the situations are alarming us related to focus on water conservation as much as we can. People are dying because of water-borne diseases, starvation, droughts.

Safe drinking water and proper sanitation are a dream for many poor families in many countries.

Water Scarcity In India

Water scarcity in India is a major crisis nowadays. Like a million people, on an average are suffering from water scarcity. Despite having a population of 1.3 billion, India owns only the 4% of the freshwater resource of the world, which is quite less for fulfilling the basic requirement of the people.

The less availability of water is not the only reason for the water scarcity in India but also, drying up of the rivers in summers just before the monsoons, climate change, delayed monsoons, drying of reservoirs across many places.

People, due to water scarcity, is not able to fulfill their basic needs daily. In a rural area, a woman has to travel several miles to fetch water even today. Sometimes, they are forced to consume untreated, unhealthy water, which results in multiple diseases.

Not only humans but animals equally suffer due to the scarcity of water. In summers, when water resources dry up in the forest, many animals in search of water enters the nearby resident area causing a threat to locals and animals too.

Also, due to scarcity, farmers are unable to produce crops. As water requirement is not fulfilled and the crops get destroyed. The scarcity has destroyed many farmlands and made them useless.

Strategies To Conserve Water

There are many strategies that helps in water conservation, and they are as follows:

• Rainwater Harvesting: Rainwater harvesting is a prominent method in water conservation. This technique includes the storage of rainwater in tanks on rooftops. The system includes transportation of rainwater, filtration, and storage. This can be used later for daily household purposes.
• Sustainable Water Usage: It is the ability of a person how he/she can limit the use of water in various activities.
• Rising awareness towards Water Conservation: Water conservation is necessary in today’s world. Building awareness, among others seems easy but is quite hard to deliver. Rather than waiting for someone else to be changed we should become the change. We have to educate people about water conservation and why there is a need to do so. It should give them the knowledge how we can take small steps and save water.
• Improve & Maintain water quality: There is a need to maintain the quality of water so that it can be used for drinking purposes, in swimming pools, health sectors, etc.

Water Pollution

Water pollution is a major problem in India. The largest source of water pollution is nothing other than untreated sewage. Other reasons are contamination due to factories wastes, chemicals run-off, mixing of insecticides and pesticides in water, solid wastes.

The cause of pollution in rural areas is mainly untreated sewage, due to lack of toilets and sewers. The flow of excessive use of fertilizers and pesticides from farmlands contaminates the water. Factories should have sewer treatment plants for treating various chemicals before releasing them in the river or lakes, but many of them failed to do so, therefore, leading to water contamination of water to a greater extent.

Agriculture-related problems such as fertilizers, pesticides, animal wastes, evaporated salts, and slits run-off in the ponds, lakes, rivers, and thus in the sea. This run-off sometimes creating “dead zones” in coastal areas.

Industry-related problems are the toxic chemicals released from their plants directly into the lakes, rivers etc. Also, the emissions of various chemicals lead to air pollution, ultimately causing acid rains which seep into the ground and polluting the groundwater.

Washing clothes, taking a bath, in the river contaminates it. Also, in some places, people use the same water for drinking purposes which causes hazardous health diseases like cholera, diarrhoea, etc.

 Ways to Conserve Water

Following are the various tips and techniques to conserve water at home. By doing these simple and few things, we can participate in a bigger change.

• Always repair water leaks, if any, as soon as possible.
• While brushing your teeth, always turn off the tap (this saves 80% of the water normally used).
• For car washing, use a bucket rather than using a water pipe.
• While washing clothes in washing machines, always run-on full loads.
• Do not long run your shower while taking a bath.
• While washing dishes, partially fill the sink and rinse them.
• Do not use toilets as your ashtray; by doing it, so every time gallons of water are wasted.
• We should plant drought–resistant plants in our lawns and gardens.
• Use a broom to clean the sideways driveways instead of using a hose; it wastes many gallons of water.
• Avoid children from playing with hose or sprinkler.

Interesting Facts Of Water

• About 6,800 gallons of water to grow a day’s food in a family of four.
• The human brain is 70% of water.
• 2/3 of the world’s population will be facing water scarcity by 2025, according to United Nations.
• Household leaks can waste more than 1 trillion gallons annually nationwide. That is equal to the annual household water use of more than 11 million homes.
• Drinking too much water can be fatal (called Water Intoxication).
• There is no scientific study that supports and recommend, drinking 8 glass of water per day.
• Children in their first six months of life consume seven times as much water per pound as the average American adult.
• A person can live about a month without food but only about a week without water.
• Water expands by 9% when it freezes.
• There is about the same amount of water on Earth now as there was millions of years ago.
• The length of the side of a cube that could hold the Earth’s estimated total volume of water in km = 1150.10
• There have been 265 recorded incidences of water conflicts from 3000 BC to 2012.
• Hot water can freeze faster than cold water under some conditions (commonly known as the Mpemba effect).
• 748 million people in the world do not have access to an improved source of drinking water.
• The World Health Organization recommends 2 gallons per person daily to meet the requirements of most people under most conditions, and around 5 gallons per person daily to cover basic hygiene and food hygiene needs.

Conclusion

With a day-by-day deteriorating level of water, it is very important for us to come forward and put forth support towards water conservation. To be known, only 1% of freshwater is left on our Earth. If we continue to waste water like this as we used to, there will be no water left for future generations and all the sources of water will be lost.

That is why we should have to be more aware about water conservation and make others too aware about this practice because it is need for the hour and our moral responsibility.

Looking at the current stage, every drop of water counts. And if we do not start water conservation, then the entire kingdom life will die, and nothing will be left on Earth.