Mumbai: About 300 students who came together to observe World Water Day were told that it is high time they taught the adults to conserve water and save the environment.
Already looming before millions of residents of Mumbai is a severe water shortage this summer, not just because the rains failed to fill the five lakes that provide drinking water to the city but because of huge losses through wastage and theft, leaking pipes and the ever-increasing demand for the construction industry.
"The youth will inherit the earth and this is all the reason why they should be made aware to get into the act of saving water right now," says Vinod Shetty of Acorn Foundation, a Mumbai-based charity trust that runs the Dharavi Project, an initiative to change the poor living conditions of 100,000 rag pickers in these slums.
Nearly 25 schools, including those in Dharavi, attended a camp at Mahim Nature Park to observe the launch of a four-week water to earth campaign that will end on April 18 on International Earth Day. Bollywood singers Shankar Mahadevan and Sunita Rao as well as officials from the US Consulate joined the youngsters to work towards spreading awareness among the youth and getting connected with issues like rain water harvesting, stopping the depletion of ground water reserves and solid waste management.
"Rain water harvesting is compulsory in many Indian cities and Mumbai should also take it up seriously since the city gets good rains which could be tapped to flow into lakes and other water bodies," Shetty said.
He said, "Children should know that there is only one tap for every 100 people in Mumbai's slums while there is mindless wastage of water in residential, office and government buildings. They should also realise that there are many areas in this city which get water only through tankers that have become a lucrative business for many."
The NGO intends to motivate more and more schoolchildren to get involved in the campaign to save water, especially during summer holidays.
"We are also appealing to corporates and the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation to join the campaign." Students will also be trained in segregation of waste.
Shetty said the hard labour of Mumbai's ragpickers, who remove tonnes of garbage that the civic body fails to handle, is a huge contribution to segregation of waste and recycling it.
