The Elixir Of Life
K S S Pillai
Recently, when the country’s President, who had gone to attend a function, found that the washroom had no water, it made headlines. It happens every day in the lives of common people, though it does not make headlines.
Though fuel outlets on the roadside must have washrooms for all, there is no uniformity in their construction. While some are handicapped-friendly, many are dirty even when water is available.
The owners of some outlets keep the washrooms locked or keep them without water to discourage visitors. One can only imagine the condition of aged travellers, who cannot control their bodily functions and want to use the washrooms.
Water is essential for many bodily functions, in addition to sanitation, and is therefore referred to as ‘the elixir of life’. It is said that a person can survive for many days without food, but will die much earlier without drinking water.
In the desert areas, we see through social media women and children walking long distances to fetch water from very deep wells. Knowing the value of water, many people keep vessels filled with water for the birds to drink.
Water covers almost 75% of the Earth, but only 3% of it is pure, and the rest is saline. Countries with saline water have desalination plants to purify it and make it drinkable. During wars, these are the first the enemy countries attack.
Water covers about 70% of the human body and sustains all ecosystems. It is necessary for the prevention of dehydration, for digestion, temperature regulation, waste removal and many other functions.
It removes waste from the body through sweat, urine, and bowel movements, and breaks down the food consumed. Waterbodies are also homes to aquatic creatures. Since clean water is scarce, one can see long queues of men, women, and children waiting for the water tankers with several pots. Many movies show the heroes giving their filled pots to the heroines to curry their favour.
Taps are not repaired on time, resulting in the wastage of this precious commodity. Consumers get unclean water through their pipes, as sometimes the pipes carrying both clean and dirty water are laid close to each other, and defects are left unrepaired.
Most authorities are least bothered by the situation, except during the election. They often advise the citizens not to waste water, collect rainwater, and recycle wastewater. When an election approaches, political parties promise sufficient water or free water up to a certain number of units. Governments have laid pipelines to the rural houses and constructed toilets for relieving themselves instead of doing so in open places, but most of them remain dry.
Farmers use chemicals on their farms to produce more. Some of them have adopted sprinkler irrigation to avoid wastage. Several industrial units discharge dirty water, sometimes clandestinely, to water bodies. Some of them recycle their wastewater. Now that people are aware that many diseases are water-borne, some purify drinking water with expensive devices.
The problem of polluting water bodies has worsened. People throw away waste materials like plastics and ‘use once only’ articles at public places and feel satisfied that their houses are clean.
Big cities have mountains of waste waiting to be recycled. We often hear of such mountains catching fire, a cheap way of disposing of the waste that takes many days to extinguish. Rich countries dump their waste near poor ones for a payment, and pollute the oceans. Wars between countries contribute to the pollution of open seas when debris from modern weapons falls into them.
We don’t think twice about throwing away the waste materials on seashores and other public places. Some politicians pick them up after due publicity is assured. The same is done at stadia after a match and rivers after ceremonial dips during certain festivals.
It is a matter of concern that many canals are so polluted that the water flow has stopped or is encroached upon, and they become a curse instead of being the lifeline of the area.
It is high time polluters are punished exemplarily, and people are made aware of the value of pure water from childhood. Let them know that they have no right to deplete the availability of ‘the elixir of life’.
(The author is a retired professor of English. He is a regular contributor to ‘The Kashmir Vision’. His short stories and articles have appeared in various national and international publications)
