By Enos Sinkonde Jr –

WATER is by far the most important resource on Earth, thus its presence indicates  the existence of life on a planetary body. We need water to grow and stay alive 70 per cent of the human body is water, we also need water to grow plants, tender to animals, cook our food, keeping our environment clean.
Chemically speaking water is made up of 2 hydrogen molecules bonded to one oxygen molecule H2O. The hydrogen: oxygen ratio in water is 2:1 thus hydrogen is referred to as  water former (Hydro= water and Gen=former).
Most of the Earth is covered in water but the water is ocean water which is very salty and cannot be used for conventional use. The water we use for daily needs is fresh water  and there is little of with respect to the world population. This water comes from rain, snow, river systems and fresh water lakes.
In a country like ours very few people understand water conservation and those that do conserve water, its only due to the fact that they feel the wreath of paying  water bills but water conservation is beyond just avoiding high amounts of water bills.
Water conservation involves the policies ,strategies and activities to manage fresh water as a sustainable resource to protect the environment and to ensure that there is adequate  supplies of water for both the present and future generations. Population growth and climate change have increased the pressures on the natural water resources especially in the manufacture and irrigation industry.
Zambia is one of the few countries in the world that have a good amount of fresh water but still to date not all Zambians have clean and safe water  for consumption atleast not less than half of our population have sufficient clean and safe water to drinkits even worse for people xeric regions. This clearly shows that there is not enough water for everyone to use thus its very important  that we conserve water
Reasons and ways to conserve water
To ensure the availability of water for future generations by ensuring that the withdraw of water from the ecosystem does not surpass the rate of natural replacement in the hydrological cycle
Water pumping and delivery into our homes and waste water treatment use up a significant  amount of electricity. In Zambia approximately 7% of the total electricity consumption  is devoted to water management. Thus were water is conserved  you solve two problems with one solution as both water and energy are conserved. Further more water conservation protects fresh water habitats for wildlife and migrating water fowls, it reduces the need to build new dams and other water diversion and storage infrastructures.
Drip irrigation must be used entirely by farmers growing crops with the aid of irrigation  this can be done by the government setting up policies that govern both local and foreign investors in  the agriculture industry restricting them to the use of only drip irrigation as it conserves water and reduces the chances of nitrogen eutrophication  in fresh water river systems and other water bodies near agriculture lands
Household water conservation encompasses more than just turning off the tap as very large volumes of water goes down the drain without even being used. Thus  in home water conservation, running water must be completely utilised before water goes down the drain this can be done in a number of ways such as the use of low flow shower heads or so called energy efficient shower heads that use less energy there by conserving both water and electricity
Conventional toilets use large volumes of water these can be replaced by  low flush toilets that save a significant amount of water or even the use of dual flush toilets that have two flush buttons or handles to dispense different levels of water depending on the requirements. Likewise dual flush toilets use up to 67 per cent less water than conventional toilets.
Water in households can further be conserved through the use of anti-splashing taps in washing hands and dishes and in the use of faucet aerators which break water into fine drops to maintain wetting effectiveness while using less water. Never leave the garden horse on all night in the flowers or the loan
The water treatment company can contribute massively in the conservation of water by recycling water instead of pumping water from rivers and lakes system supplying it to its consumers
In a nutshell, were you can afford to pay those water bills, that should not at any moment lead you to abuse the water as not everyone  has the water that you are using. Let us be cautious with how we use our resources either it being water or energy as these God given resources are connected  in one way or the other and their utilisation have an impact on our environment. Thus conserve water to the last drop of it don’t wait for shortages, remember, we only have but one Zambia
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