Only 29% of the earth is covered with land and the rest is covered with water. This goes on to show that water is an abundant resource. But methods of tapping into the potential of this resource are yet not discovered.

The fact is that only 3% of the said water is of any use to us. As human beings, we need freshwater. We cannot drink salt water which is present in the oceans and the sea. Freshwater is mainly confined to glaciers and ice caps (68%) and only a small percentage of it is found in lakes, river and other water resources (32%).

The rate at which humans are using this abundant yet scarce resource is alarming. The fact is that we are already suffering from a freshwater crisis. The drinkable water that the natural resources provide is insufficient as per the current demand. In order to overcome this problem, several techniques to turn undrinkable water into drinkable one have been developed. But still, the rate at which we use water is more.

If this trend does not change, we would be having a water crisis at hand sooner that later.

Water is one of the basic needs of human. A human cannot survive without water for more than 3 days. So, asking people to stop using water altogether is equivalent to asking them to commit suicide. Hence, it is not a solution.

But then what is?

Water is used in several sectors and in household. Pahla Kadam, works to provide methods to reduce the wastage of water in the households.

In order to reduce the wastage of water, first thing to address is the mentality of people towards water. Some people are unaware of the crisis and would let water go to waste while other areas struggle just to have bare minimum amount of water to drink. On average, a single person wastes as much as 45 liters of water every day.

It is necessary to educate people who live in societies where water supply is abundant about the importance of saving water. This one drive is conducted yearly by us.

For people with little water, the efficient way to use the resources is taught and steps to bring adequate amount of water to society are taken.

Agriculture is a sector that uses 70% of the freshwater and rightfully so. It is agricultural practices that put food in our bellies. But normally, farmers in the rural areas of India are not educated enough to know about the right usage of water.

They tend to waste water in name of agriculture and do not know how this particular resource needs to be treated. The water is used to only 35% of its efficiency in agriculture.

We teach farmers about various irrigation methods that they can use. This will save on their electricity bill, reduce water wastage and will not adversely affect the crops either.

Rainwater storage is another thing to consider. Due to the lack of storage facilities for the rainwater, 64% of the freshwater goes back to the sea without being used. if rainwater is stored properly, an initiative that we are working on, water shortage would become a thing of the past.

We take it upon ourselves to spread awareness about the need of saving water. We have taken many initiatives to help prevent the crisis that is bound to befall us if our malpractices pertaining to water persists. This includes working on the leaky taps in the houses, teaching farmers about better irrigation methods and compelling industries to take proper steps in order to avoid any water wastage.

If the situation stays the same, many cities will become inhabitable in a while. It would be dreadful sight to see.

If you too, do not with for the dystopia, join us by changing your habits for the better and donating to the cause.