Daily Times

Tick, tick, tick. With the time passing my worries increase. It’s not about money, it’s not about my safety, and it’s not even about the coronavirus. What we lack in ourselves, our daily routine is our proactive behaviour. When we are on the brink of a crisis, suddenly, we feel like waking up. My concern is the crises that, God forbid, we are going to face soon. It seems as if another catastrophe is afoot.

As the coronavirus pandemic has engulfed the whole world, we have become obsessed with cleanliness habits and hand washing routines. The core idea behind hand washing is to wash for twenty seconds. In those twenty seconds, we are slowly heading towards another trouble, and that is of water shortage.

As we all know, one-third of our earth is covered with water. Is it all consumable? No, we are surrounded by saltwater and even that is polluted. The only clean sources of drinking water are the precious, mighty glaciers. When these glaciers melt, their water flows down to rivers, and eventually reaches our homes.

Deforestation, urbanisation, industrialisation, and wastage of water in cities and towns are all factors resulting in huge shortages of water round the globe

Last year, in summer, 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 mesmerised us. The majestic River Indus travelled along us. I kept a keen eye on it as we travelled by its side. In some places it was so wide its roaring could be heard from the mountainous road. But as we kept travelling along its side, to my utter disappointment, it began narrowing down. There were some places where it shrank to the size of a narrow canal. My heart was saddened to see all that.

According to National Geographic, “By the year 2025, two thirds of the world population will be living in areas with water shortage due to application, growth and chemical change.”

More and more green lands are being converted into barren lands. Deforestation, urbanisation, industrialisation, and wastage of water in cities and towns are all factors resulting in huge shortages of water round the globe. We don’t need to go far to catch a glimpse of Africa. In Pakistan, every inch of the Thar desert is thirsty and so are the people. Every drop counts.

As we travel up towards Murree, the once famous lush green forest now looks desolate. Where are we heading to? It is the need of the hour to build more dams. On the individual level, are we fulfilling our duty to ensure conservation of water? When we water our huge lawns, we must bear in mind that in adjoining areas water can be very precious. Although not important for us, in many areas of cities, men, women and children are often seen queued for water collection. I feel, as a responsible citizen, that what we are wasting in our lives can be a very basic need of our fellow beings.

Nowadays, we are facing the coronavirus pandemic and it has made our lives very challenging. We are in a dire need of hand washing more frequently, and therefore, everyone needs water in abundance. Doctors and health professionals constantly advise us to wash our hands more frequently. Even government officials are seen in media giving directions on how to disinfect our hands. We need to properly wash our clothes, mop the floors, and meticulously 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.

What we need to do is to use this precious water very carefully. We can survive without food for weeks but without water our lives can be in jeopardy. While washing hands we must make sure to turn off the water tap. While applying soap, water must not go wasted. Please ensure that there is no water wastage during utensil washing, tooth brushing, and watering lawns. Disinfecting of clothes can be done by soaking clothes for a longer period of time in disinfectants rather than rinsing them again and again in tap water. Making frequent use of sanitiser is also a good idea. Disposable hand gloves and masks need to be easily available in market.

More and more careful steps need to be taken in this challenging time for conservation of water. We cannot neglect the importance of water while fighting the deadly coronavirus. We need to be more vigilant about water storage in the time of the coronavirus pandemic. Water is life and is essential for the survival of our generation and future generations. Every drop counts.

The writer is a psychologist, life coach and a freelance columnist