14-DAYS CHALLENGE:How can we live with limited water in the future?
According to the World Water Development Report 2019, the world’s water using is increasing at about 1% every year. In the future society will face a rising water pressure, if we have a daily water limitation, how can we use it?
One thing surprised me when I arrived in Milan: the water is free! Small pools can be seen everywhere in the street, where people can wash their hands or drink. However, with the increasing pressure of water resources in the next 30 years, can we still use water so recklessly? So I chose the challenge of using only 60L of water a day to experience how can we continue to survive with limited water for domestic use.
Day 1-3
After knowing the current situation of global water resources, I decided to reuse water and reduce unnecessary water use based on the 60 liters water per day.The human body only needs 1500 ml of water every day, so most of our domestic water is used for bathing, washing clothes, washing vegetables, flushing toilets or other daily activities. Therefore, if we want to save more water, we need to reduce the water consumption in these daily activities.
For example, washing your hands with the tap opened in the middle instead of the max , you’ll find that a moderate amount of water also can clean your hands. Or you can store the water after washing clothes and use it to flush the toilet, so that you can save about 2.5 liters of water each time.
Day 4–6
Over past few days’ water-saving challenge, I found that using ways to save more water doesn’t make life difficult, though it will be a little inconvenience. I saved about 5L water by flushing the toilet with used water twice a day at home. I also use about half of the amount I normally use when I washing, saving about 7–8L water per day. In addition, I will turn off the tap when washing my hair or body these days, which can save 1 minute and 30 seconds of water output, about 9L.
Day 7–9
In the past week, I tried different methods to reduce the daily consumption of domestic water to no more than 60L. I am a very clean person and will wash my hands 8–9 times a day. In order to challenge with less water consumption, I choose to use wet wipes instead of washing my hands about 5 times a day. Then I learned a way to save toilet water online. It is also very simple just to put a water bottle full of water into the water tank.It will save a third of the water in the tank with each flush.
Day 10–12
The water saving challenge is on the 10th day, and in the last 10 days I’ve tried various ways to reduce my daily water consumption. During this period of time, I did not encounter any difficulties in life although I was quite short of water every day. In fact, if we want to, we could completely save one-third of the unnecessary water consumption in our lives. In recent days, I would reuse a basin of water when I was washing vegetables, saving about 3–4 L of water compared with directly washing them under the faucet before. In addition, in order to meet the challenge of saving water, I will consider whether I need to boil, steam and other cooking processes that require water. In order to challenge the limit , I really tried my best.
Day 13–14
The two-week water saving challenge is coming to an end. In the past 14 days, I have tried many ways to reduce my daily personal water consumption, which was an unforgettable experience for me. Although we don’t know the difficulty of water shortage now, many people in the world are surviving a hard life because of the lack of water. If we are going to live in a future where water is extremely scarce, with a daily per capita water limit of 10 liters, how are we about to live? After 14 days of experience, I think the use of some water-saving measures will not have a great impact on our life, and we have the responsibility not to let unnecessary water run away.
Water is the most important resource for human survival. As we all know, the fresh water resources on earth are limited. Although water processed technology is increasingly developed, it cannot meet the needs of all the earth’s inhabitants. If our planet becomes desert in the future or becomes as desolate as Mars, we only can think of the precious water? I think, the 14-days challenge brought me not only a physical challenge, but also an understanding that we need to think about the future of human life. This point, all of us are closely related.
