It’s that time of year again when bloggers get together in force to spread the word about Blog Action Day and the topic of the moment. This year’s focus is on Water, such an essential element of survival that many of us take completely for granted. In less developed parts of the world, and, in fact possibly just around the corner from where we are staying people struggle on a daily basis to have access to this precious element of Life. It is mainly because those of us who enjoy easy access to this resource do no respect it and end up abusing it, that others have to suffer and struggle without it.
As a Muslim, it is part of my belief system to take water issues really seriously, as we as Muslims have been advised by the Prophet Muhammad(pbuh) that “even if we have a flowing river of water, we should still not waste it”. I am taught by the Scripture which I follow(The Quran) to believe that Our Creator has created every living thing by making use of Water as a major component of it’s creation. It’s very simple, water is essential for life, though we as a Human race are abusing this very essential element in just about every single manner possible. There is enough water flowing around our planet at any given time to provide for each and every living being, but we have chosen to make it a right only some of us can enjoy.
Things we’re doing to make our water situation worse:
- Waste in general
- Using unenecessary amounts of water for enternatinment or commercial use
- Hoarding up water resources and depriving others
- Polluting our rivers, lakes and even the oceans
- Polluting the atmosphere out of which the Rains fall
- Unnecessarily using valuable resources on bottled water in many cases where it’s not necessary
In the modern home the amount of water each person uses on a daily basis for various activities could at times equal what others may use in an entire month. If only we could see the thousands of litres we’ve consumed, polluted, wasted unnecessarily we may be more conscientious. I speak for myself first as being very guilt of all of these things.
Here’s a list of things we can all do to be part of the solution right now.
- Shower Instead of bathing
- Shorten shower duration to what is necessary
- Wash your face with cold water, don’t wait for water to warm up
- Rinse dishes, fruit etc in a bowl of water instead of leaving the tap running
- Don’t throw chemicals or other pollutants down the drains
- Water your garden early morning or late evening to avoid vapouration
- Reuse water used to rinse fruit & veg for house plants
- Don’t drink bottled water unless absolutely necessary
- Fix leaking taps asap
- Only run dishwashers and clothing washers when they’re full
I found a great list of 100 tips to conserve water – Use Water Wisely
One more tip to inspire you towards appreciating water in a more meaningful way it, go out into nature where fresh water is still flowing naturally, like a river, waterfall or mountain stream. When you see clean water in nature and you appreciate it’s beauty & benefit it helps increase respect for this divine blessing.
That’s me on a 2 Day Hike in the Cedarberg Mountains in the Western Cape South Africa. It helped me gain a much better appreciation for clean flowing water and the blessings it holds.