A Few Drops Away from a Catastrophe

The time has come to already evaluate this problem. Saving water consists of using water responsibly, being conscious that we consume water from when we wake up in the morning until we go to bed at night. Keeping this in mind, we must understand that every drop counts.

This lack of responsibility towards saving water has great consequences in countries and communities in which droughts are commonplace. More than a billion people live in places with very little available drinking water. By 2025, scientists estimate that there will be around 3.5 billion people (according to the World Resources Institute). Additionally, 502,000 people die of diarrhea every year due to lack of water and consuming water that is not fit for drinking. This very lack of water affects agriculture and raising livestock. With this comes famine. Animals die from thirst and become extinct, and plant species simply disappear. Nevertheless, these are only some of the multifarious problems that occur due to water scarcity.

There is no time to waste! It is necessary for us to take action immediately, since the risk is so great. It’s time to become aware of how we can save water, to look at our daily practices and act in small but impactful ways. How can we help? Here are a few simple and practical recommendations.

• Save water when brushing our teeth, not leaving the faucet running. With this, each person could save close to 30 liters every day.
• Use a timer to take quicker showers. This could save up to 400 liters of water every day per shower.
• Learn to do the dishes without leaving the water running. This can save around 200 liters a day.
• Reuse water – this is a great option. One example of this is to use shower water to clean the floor or soak laundry.
• Be on the lookout for any type of water leaks in toilets and faucets. One leak can end up using a week’s worth of water in a single day.

We are a few drops away from a catastrophe. We find ourselves in a privileged part of the world where all we have to do to get water is to turn on the faucet. However, we must note that there are places in the world where people don’t have it as easy. Every drop that we save is a drop that someone else could drink, and that drop can save lives. Let’s not be selfish; let’s think and act on behalf of those who are in desperate need of water, even if we do not know who they are. We can do a lot with every drop that we save. It’s time to take action!

By Samuel Beltrán, 5^th
Translated by Andreas Horne, 10^th