You are richer than you think

There are so many things I would like to write about (trust me, I am so inspired by everything that I could write something different every single day!) For now though, I wanted to share with you our experience last Monday when we visited one of Bala Vikasa’s Water Purification System at the village of Indiranagar.

I don't know if you remember, but in my very first article, I told you, you were richer than you think for the simple reason that you had potable water right from your tap. Well, after reading this article, you might understand why.

As much as it seems easy and simple for us to have access to water, some populations are really struggling for it. Either they have to walk hours to get some, either they have to pay a ridiculous amount of money to get some, either they have to buy bottles of water over and over again (and then contribute to environmental pollution) or either they will just drink the only thing they have access to and then get different kinds of diseases (including malformations.) In all cases, access to water is a real issue. To give you an example, in India, over 334 million people don't have access to water.

For some villages in India, Bala Vikasa created an amazing option: a Water Purification System that gives potable water these villages anytime they want. How does it work? People have to go to what they call the ATW (anytime water – like ATM which means anytime money) of their village. There, they can pay 3 rupees (CAN$ 0,059) for 20 litters. Either they pay with money or with a membership card that they refill. How do Bala Vikasa manage to run all of their Water Purification Systems? Well, they don't have to. The communities do. The communities themselves own and run their system and establish a water committee formed by elected women and men. This is another reason why it is so amazing: the communities aren't dependant of Bala Vikasa and they feel more confident because the project is theirs.  

When we were visiting the village, one of my colleagues asked to the committee: what if Bala Vikasa stopped all of their activities? What will you do?

They simply answered that they would be okay to continue by themselves and then said: when a mother is teaching her kid to walk, she has to let him go by himself at one point to let him grow by himself. 

What an inspiration! That's a good example of sustainable development.

Not only does Bala Vikasa have ATW  in villages, but they also have some the city. It's the same process but for anyone who would like to fill their bottle of water. 1 litter for 1 rupee (CAN$ 0,019). Once again, the community elects people who takes daily care of it. 

Have you ever realized that you prefer paying for a bottle of water than drinking what's coming out of your tap for free? That you clean yourself with potable water? That you water your plants with potable water? That you wash your clothes with potable water? That you waist potable water by taking long showers, by letting the water run when you brush your teeth, by letting the water run when you clean your dishes? That your toilet is full of potable water?

There you go. You are richer than you thought. 

What can you do to make a difference and avoid waisting water? 

Here are some examples of things everyone can do DAILY:

- Avoid flushing the toilet for nothing. Your toilet is NOT your garbage.

- Take shorter showers and try to stop the shower while you are using your soap. According to protégez-vous.ca, a 5 minutes shower take 14 litters. Can you imagine? I remind you these villages manage to live with 20 litters a day.

- Do not let the water run when you brush your teeth. 

- Do not let the water run when you clean your dishes. 

- Do not let the water run when you are washing your hands.

- If some of your taps are leaking, make sure to fix it. According to equiterre.org, 1 drop of waisted water every second is 10 000 litters waisted in a year. 

- Re-use your pasta water (By example: to water your plants)

- Avoid using your dish washer if it's not full. Same thing for your washing machine.

You can make a difference. You truly can. 

You thought you couldn't? Change your attitude and start these new habits.

 Be part of the creation of a better world for everyone.  

You can find all these infos on Bala Vikasa’s website. You will also find more infos about the exact purification system they use:

http://www.sopar-balavikasa.org/blog/cause/water-and-sanitation/