Mumbai: Counting drops can save a stream

Quite often, some measures are seemingly limited in their effect but, they eventually create a wider impact. The residents of the Nirmal Building, at Dadar, replaced their old habits with new ones and experienced a great deal of difference. A few steps towards better sustenance helped them realise that charity begins at home.

After DNA visited homes of these residents with water expert and BMC's former Hydraulic Engineer Madhukar Kamble on November 15, it conducted another round of visits to find out if suggestions made by the expert have at all been implemented or not. The newspaper also enquired if the families faced difficulties while following any of the measures.

The drive was initiated in the light of 10 per cent water cuts announced by the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) after Mumbai's reserves depleted sooner than expected. The experiences of three Shivaji Park-based families that followed water conservation steps, have been discussed here.

Push your flush knob upwards

There are times when a little trick does the wonder. The Kamat family realised the notion after following some of these water conservation measures. Although the family uses water judiciously, the suggestion to push the flush knob upwards after pressing it gently helped them a lot. The tip helped them save more than 50 per cent of the water they usually use for flushing.

Manali and Ramchandra Kamat live on the third floor of Nirmal Building and have a full-time maid to take care of domestic chores. They have a standard 10-litre flush tank in the toilet. Water expert Madhukar Kamble had advised them to use a 3-litre-bucket or push the knob upwards to flush out excreta.

Since it is time-consuming to wash utensils as Manali runs an outlet of half-prepared food, Kamble had advised her to wipe off residual oil from the dishes before rinsing them clean. Manali finds this tip difficult to follow as there are many chores awaiting her attention.

Members of the Kamat family use 10 litres of water per person for bathing; this is not a lot and hence did not need cutting down. After Kamble told them the right proportion of washing powder and water, their water usage has come down by 10 litres.

The Kamat family uses a sprinkler to water their plants. They even use waste water from the kitchen to suit the same purpose.

Bucket vs shower: Bathing redefined

Ojas Kalokhe, the youngest member of the family, welcomes us in. He is in the fifth standard and like his mother says, is the most enthusiastic participant in saving water. He keeps an eye on everybody in the house as far as wastage of water is concerned and quickly reports to his mother if somebody is not following the measures.

The Kalokhe family is a group of five. Gouri and Prashant Kalokhe live on the first floor of the Nirmal Building with their two sons and a nephew. The family is aware of water scarcity and reduces its consumption by sticking to methods they learn from textbooks, newspapers, television or through social interactions.

Like other families, the Kalokhe family too uses maximum water for bathing, washing clothes and in the toilet. While other family members use a bucketful of water to bathe, the nephew takes a shower twice a day. Gouri explained the impact of it to him and now he has stopped his usual habit. "He is a sensible guy and now he uses a bucket to bathe," Gouri said.

The family placed two bottles, half a litre each, in the flush tank to cut down on water wastage. Their toilet had a leakage and Kamble had asked them to get it repaired immediately. "That was an old leakage. The leakage was minimal, so we ignored it. After being advised, we are getting it repaired now" Gouri said.

The Kalokhe family observes many good practices to save water. Gouri uses only one cycle of a washing machine to wash bedsheets and blankets and then, she washes them in a bucket to restrict wastage of water.

1/4th spoon washing powder cleans well

The Chheda family resides on the ground floor of Dadar's Nirmal Building. They are a pack of four. Water usage is usually high amongst Chhedas as a full-time maid looks after an old mother and other household chores. They also have a pet dog.

When water expert Kamble visited them last week, Mrs Chheda wasn't at home and no one else in the family knew about the quantity of water used by their front- load washing machine. On the second visit, Abhay Chheda was well aware of the details. A front-load machine uses half the water needed in a top-load one. After due instructions, the Chheda family uses one-fourth of a spoon of washing powder for a fully loaded machine and this helps them to save water.

Although Abhay Chheda is aware that modern toilets consume more water, he does not want to cut down on usage by putting a bottle inside the flush tank. However, the family resorted to the trick of pushing the knob upwards, a little while after pressing it.

The maid uses tap water to wash utensils. Kamble advised her to use a bucketful instead of leaving the tap open. "We tried to wash utensils that way for a couple of days but, utensils were not being cleaned properly. We have gone back to using tap water," Abhay said. To this Kamble said that water in a bucket cleans no differently. He referred to the difficulty as a psychological barrier.