How can You Help Towards Protecting Water?

Water is one of the primary necessities of day-to-day life. It is not possible to imagine life without water. It is one of the most precious natural resources present on the planet. Water serves to be a universal solvent while playing a major role in ensuring the existence of multiple forms of life on the planet. Water is extensively used for multiple purposes like cleaning, washing, cooking, drinking, and so more. Therefore, it is crucial to protect and conserve the source of water to ensure further supply of clean & hygienic water in the future.  

Water is an odorless and colorless substance that remains crucial to the survival of all living beings on the planet. You can come across a number of natural sources of water -including rivers, lakes, ponds, and so more. Almost 70 percent of the Earth’s surface is covered with water. With immense importance, it is important to ensure ample water protection with the help of the right strategies. Let us understand the same in detail. 

How can You Help Protect Source Water?

Individuals, communities, and groups can take active parts in protecting reliable sources of water. For instance, one of the effective methods can be protecting water that is sourced into dedicated water tanks for storage.  

Typically, source water is the one found in lakes, rivers, reservoirs, and natural aquifers. We obtain water from the source to drink and utilize for various other purposes. All sources of water are linked in a dedicated watershed across the entire water cycle. Drinking sources of water might be contaminated while featuring a limited tolerance for excessive stress. Moreover, long-term issues can eventually rise. These might be expensive and even impossible to remediate. Therefore, protection of source water is about ensuring the protection of both quantity as well as quality of relevant water sources. 

Some of the proven steps to protect drinking water sources -also for additional water use, are: 

• Multi-barrier Methodology: You can best protect drinking water by making use of multiple barriers to prevent further contamination of the existing drinking water. Referred to as the ‘multibarrier approach,’ the methodology includes multiple actions towards preventing further contamination of water. The approach also includes utilizing adequate systems for water storage & distribution, testing of water, training water managers, and so more.  

• Learning About Sources of Drinking Water: Your utility for drinking water includes garnering information about sources of water in the respective annual water quality report. Detailed information will also help you understand the ways to assess the overall quality of drinking water.  

Learn About Source Water Protection

The process of source water protection includes a series of actions and decisions that are aimed at protecting, maintaining, and improving the overall quantity and quality of drinking water sources along with the contributing areas. The activities you undertake for protecting source water will depend on the type of source you wish to protect -like a lake, river, reservoir, and so more. Water Storage Tanks: A Game-Changing Innovation 

Some instances of protection of water sources are:

1. Leaning protection or easements 
2. Stabilization of the stream bank for reducing sedimentation 
3. Storing rainwater in dedicated storage water tanks 
4. Restoration of the riparian zone for minimizing runoff pollution 
5. Ensuring the best management practices for forestry and agricultural activities or ensuring stormwater controlEducating businesses, local industries, and individuals on ways to prevent water pollution  
6. Developing plans for emergency response 
7. Developing local ordinances to restrict specific activities in sources of water 

Take Everyday Actions

Protecting the sources of water and conserving water altogether are the need of the hour as far as the future of the world is concerned. Water is a limited natural resource. To make sure that all of us receive adequate inflow of water every day, it is recommended to understand effective ways to protect source water on a daily basis. 

Some everyday actions on your part can be:

• Shower with Less Water: The extra minute you will spend in the shower will contribute to around 17liters of water wasted. Preferably, set a timer on your smartphone to ensure that you take shower in a short and balanced period of time. You can also think of switching to an efficient shower head to leather up effectively even in a reduced supply of water. 

• Save Up Dirty Clothes: When you wash your machine with a full load, it will generally consume less energy in comparison to two half loads. It will also imply reduced energy bills monthly. 

• Turn Off the Taps: Always manage and control the overall water consumption in your house. You can look forward to saving as much as 6 liters of water every minute by simply turning off the water taps -especially while brushing. It is also advised to fix all your leaky pipes and taps.  

• Ensure Rainwater Harvesting: Rainwater is crucial to restoring water present in natural sources of water. If you live in an urban setting, you can do your part by ensuring the installation of proper rainwater harvesting units -like a storage water tank in your premises. You can utilize the water collected for washing clothes, watering plants, and so more. 

• Steam the Veggies: You can consider steaming your veggies and food items to minimize water usage while also retaining maximum natural nutrients out of the same. As you boil water, you can use the remaining soup as vegetable broth in other cooking applications.  

Volunteer in Your Community

 You can commence by finding or searching for a dedicated group committed to conserving and protecting water sources. You can come across a number of such volunteering groups wherein you can play your party towards conserving water. It is also possible to present your ideas in a school presentation or corporate setting. 

Conclusion

Safe and clean drinking water is crucial to survival. By ensuring proper water protection methods, you can save the reliable sources of water while creating a promising future for upcoming generations.