New Delhi: During the COVID-19 fuelled lock down the usage of water in houses, certainly, in urban areas have gone high according to the studies by Jal Shakti Ministry and other water activists. The reason, as people often hand washing and disinfecting their houses, water has been spent much at this pandemic crisis, sources said.
Though the government had encouraged the practise of washing hands often and disinfecting the residential areas, it has its own impact on the usage of water.
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According to the study by the ministry, it has been found that at least two-litre of water has been used for hand washing once.
“As the Indian Council for Medical Research (ICMR) has recommended people to hand wash for a minimum 20-30 seconds, the water will be used for that would around two litres. If a family with four to five members are doing this, the usage of water will reach a minimum of 70 litres per days,” said an officer with the ministry.
He further added that we could not stop people from washing their hands as it is very essential at this time.
“People should consciously use water while washing their hands. It is not necessary to keep the water tap open until they finish washing their hands,” he noted. The ministry had identified it was the Urban areas are mostly using huge amount of water in this lockdown time than the villages.
“As the population is dense in the cities, they are highly using water than the villagers. Also, the villagers have sources like lakes, water bodies. But, urban people have access only to tap water or ground level water. So, the groundwater level is depleting fast. Though many areas have brimming water, Mumbai has a facing shortage. Therefore, Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation is gearing up to cut the 20% of water supply in this August. It could be recalled Mumbai is the top Metropolitan City which has been witnessing higher infection rate for COVID-19. As COVID-19 mark is higher in New Delhi and Chennai, it is essential to assess the water usage by households” the officer added.
S Balakrishnan, an environmental activist, who had associated with an NGO working on water conservation, had said it is essential to fix smart water meters to monitor the usage of water.
“At this lockdown time, people and government had limited resources to monitor the quantity of water is being used. As the water needs of India is increasing day by day, we are expecting the necessity would increase to twice the time what we are using now in 2030. So, smart water meters should be fixed every household and the government can monitor remotely. If any of the houses are using more water, they can be educated on how to use water efficiently,” the expert told the ETV Bharat.
Besides, Jal Shakti Ministry’s secretary UP Singh who had given a speech on water conversation on Friday had urged communities to come forward to restore our lakes and water bodies in both the rural and urban areas.
