Tick, tick, tick! As the time passes by, with every ticking of clock sound, worries are setting in. It is not about money, not about my safety, and not about even coronavirus. What we lack in our daily routine is our proactive behaviour .When we are on the brink of crisis suddenly we feel like waking up. My concern, this time, is about the looming crisis. As the coronavirus pandemic has engulfed the whole world, we are being taught about cleanliness habits and hand washing routines. The core idea behind hand washing is to wash hands for 20 seconds. And in these twenty seconds are slowly heading towards another trouble, and that is of water shortage. The one third of our earth is covered with water. Is it all consumable? No, we are all surrounded by salt water and that too is polluted. The only sources of drinking water are the precious mighty glaciers. And when these glaciers, melts down, their water flows in rivers, which reaches our homes. Last year in summers, I had a chance to visit the Northern Areas with my family. It was a memorable trip because we went by road from Lahore and headed up towards Hunza. Indeed the picturesque scenes mesmerized us. The majestic River Indus traveled along us. I kept a keen eye on it as we travelled by its side. At some place it was so wide that its roar could be heard from up mountainous road. But as we kept on travelling along its side, to my utter disappointment, it began narrowing down. Even there were some places that it shrunk to nullah. Disinfection of clothes can be done by soaking them for a longer period of time in disinfectants rather than rinsing them again and again in tap water Greener lands are being converted into barren lands. Deforestation, urbanization, industrialisation and wastage of water in cities and towns, all factors are resulting in huge shortage of water round the globe. We don’t need to go far to catch a glimpse of Africa. In Pakistan, every inch of Thar desert is thirsty and so are the people. So every drop counts. As we traveled up towards Muree Hills, once famous for lush green forest, the hill station looked deserted. So where are we heading to? Yes it is the need of hour to build more dams. But on the individual level we should fulfill our duty to ensure the safety of water. When we water our huge lawns, we must bear in mind that in neighbouring and adjoining areas water can be very precious. Although not important for us, but in many areas of cities, men women and children often queue up for water collections. At least I feel, as a responsible citizen, that what we are wasting in our lives can be very basic need of our fellow beings. Nowadays, we are facing the coronavirus pandemic, which has already made our lives very challenging. We are in a dire need of washing hands more frequently. So, everyone needs water in abundance. We all are being conveyed by doctors and health professionals to wash our hands more frequently .Even government officials are see in media to giving directions how to disinfect hands. We need to properly wash our clothes, mop the floors and safely clean the utensils to keep the virus at bay. This can be done if we have water in abundance. When the whole world is facing the coronavirus challenge, we cannot afford to be on the brink of another crisis. So, what we need is to use this precious water very carefully. We can survive without food for a week, but without water our lives can be jeopardy. While washing hand we must make sure to turn off the water tap. While applying soap, water must not go wasted. Please, ensure there is no water wastage during utensil washing, during tooth brushing and watering lawns. Disinfection of clothes can be done by soaking them for a longer period of time in disinfectants rather than rinsing them again and again in tap water. Making frequent use of sanitizer is also a good idea. Disposable hand gloves and masks need to be available in market. More and more careful steps need to be taken in this challenging time for water preservation. We cannot neglect the importance of water, while fighting with the deadly coronavirus. We need to more vigilant in water storage at this time as water is life, a necessary thing for the survival of our generation and future generation. Bushra Zehra Askari is a psychologist, life coach and freelance writer