DARE - Because Entrepreneurs Do

When it comes to water—potable, yes—there is a panicky feeling in your heart if you know the figures. Then if you notice the mindless wastage of fresh water in domestic and business use, you are boiled up to the specific heat of vaporization but still are not able to cross the threshold of stopping that. These facts, real and practical facts, are just growing in their horrifying potency.

Northwest states in India are facing acute shortage of water for their domestic, agricultural, and industrial survival and growth. To keep pace with the economic growth, water supply needs almost to be doubled which is not possible by any means. Many coastal areas are also not able to sustain the demand of water in comparison to what resources of water they are able to create.

I have seen people wasting fresh water for flooding sewage and open-channels carrying filth outside their household. They just tap-in the pipe and run the fresh water into these conduits. Just imagining that they are able to move the mud that forms in them.

Another activity is filling the domestic water tanks put on the top of any house. People usually employ an electric motor or a submersible pump to fill these tanks so as to use this water later through taps in kitchen, bathrooms, toilets, etc. However, most of the time, they do not when to switch the motor or submersible off and the water flows out of these tanks and goes waste. There is virtually no system to give the indication and lots of water goes waste. I have seen water tanks running out this water for the whole night because the people could not get any indication that they are flooding their own home.

Yes, we are talking about saving fresh water and then generating more for growth. This is where DARE carried a pretty good study of desalination of water in its last month's issue. This story gave a clear figure that the requirement of freshwater in India is close to 900 billion cu. m. But we are a little above half of that figure and require almost double the amount of water.

Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC) already set up a sort of example by setting up a 1.8 million-liters-a-day capacity desalination plant at Kalpakkam in Tamil Nadu in 2008 and is set to commission a MSF-based plant there itself. BARC has set up several desalination plants in rural Rajasthan, Andhra Pradesh and Gujarat, producing 30,000 L a day.

People do employ household purifiers but there is no fore-vision about creating large amount of freshwater supply by setting up plants where water can be converted for non-potable to potable state. There is serious and acute need to work on these facts and deliver something that is visionary and oriented for future sustenance.

What else is required is huge amount of awareness among masses in rural and urban areas to use water just like as they care for gold. Just like coal was termed as “black gold”, water should be branded as “liquid gold” so that it could be given due importance in life.

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