THURSDAY, APRIL 25, 2024
Sathappan Narayanan
For almost every chemical compound, the solid state is denser than the liquid state and the solid would sink to the bottom of the liquid except “water”. Though molecules of water are simple in structure (H2O), physical and chemical properties of water are not typical like other compounds. As we know the solid state of water –“ice” floats on water. The fact that ice floats on water is exceedingly important in the natural world, because the ice that forms on ponds and lakes in cold areas of the world acts as an insulating barrier that protects the aquatic life below. If ice were denser than liquid water, ice forming on a pond would sink, thereby exposing more water to the cold temperature. Thus, the pond would eventually freeze throughout, killing all the life-forms present.
Next to air, water is the most important element for the preservation of life. It’s extremely painful to know that close to billion people lack access to safe water in our planet. Water conservation can go a long way to help alleviate impending shortages in the near future. 71% of the earth being covered in water, some people can't help but wonder: Why should we conserve?
Fact is only 3% of water on Earth is fresh water, and out of this 3%, only 0.5% is available for drinking. The other 2.5% of fresh water is locked in ice caps, glaciers, the atmosphere, soil, or under the earth's surface, or is too polluted for consumption.
As each of us depends on water to sustain life, it is our responsibility to learn more about water conservation and how we can help keep our sources pure and safe for generations to come. There are multiple ways to save water like turning off tap while shaving or brushing and taking shorter showers. In spite of all said and done, the reality is only few people adapt ways to save water.
How to bring in disciplined water conservation? Below story has a clue:
Mushrooming of multi storey buildings started in the so called IT corridor of Chennai with the opening of “Tidel park” in 2000. Though two decades passed, surprising factor is, all the dwellings in that IT stretch of 20KM buy water and pay for clearing sewage on day-to-day basis by tankers, as there is no corporation water supply or sewage lines.. As per famous quote of Plato “necessity is the mother of invention”, owners of these apartments finally devised an innovative method to create parity of water consumption charges among residents by fixing smart water meters. These meters are so advanced in technology that they monitor real time water consumption besides detecting and informing individual apartment for any unattended leak. These meters came as a blessing in disguise and those households who were earlier not maintaining their faucets, toilets and taps for any leak are so careful now, for, if they not they may end up paying huge water bill at the end of the month
I feel such monitoring of consumption nationally and globally is of paramount importance in conserving water.
