Every Drop Counts

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Sometimes when it rains here in Singapore, it really pours, making it seem as though water is falling free from the skies and plentiful. But Singapore can experience dry spells too and as Ah Kong says it quite aptly, it is important to make every drop count.

Fact is, water is a very important resource for us. We need it to grow food, maintain our environment and produce everything from chicken rice to electronics. We use water every day at home too. Brushing teeth, washing utensils, taking a shower - all of these activities use water.

So when it comes to water conservation, the wifey and I believe it starts at home… with our monkies. And the lesson in saving water truly hit them hard one night when we returned home to find there was no water running from our taps.

For some reason, the water tank on top of our apartment block was empty which meant that the upper units in our block experienced no water supply. A technician was duly despatched to pump water from the water tanks that served the lower units up to our units but that took time. In fact, the water supply was only restored some time after midnight.

"How do we bathe?"

"How do we brush teeth?"

"What if I need to poo and cannot flush?"

"My hands are dirty but I cannot wash them!"

"Will we die of thirst?"

Ale asked the last question by the way. But these were just some of the concerns that the monkies exclaimed throughout the period when our taps were dry. In the end, they had to go to bed with our water supply still cut off. But come morning, imagine their utter joy when they discovered that they were able to brush their teeth with water running from the tap!

Truth is, they - and I if I may be honest - have taken our water supply for granted. Whenever we turn on the tap, it is a given that water must gush out from it. But water is a limited resource for Singapore and it may very well run out if we do not treasure it.

We cannot afford to waste even small amounts of water so what better way to teach children the importance of conserving one of the Earth’s most valuable resources than these 8 simple tips:

1. Do not leave the tap running when not in use.

2. Tightly turn off the taps to ensure they do not drip.

3. Check for leaks in flushing cisterns, pipes, and taps and repair them immediately to prevent water wastage.

4. As an extension to the tip above, check for leaks regularly by turning off all taps and checking the water meter. If the water meter counter dial is still running, it means there is a leak. Call a plumber immediately.

5. Monitor your water bill to monitor your family’s water consumption. If your consumption is more than average, re-look your family’s water usage habits.

6. Install thimbles or water saving devices at taps with high flow rate.

7. Use water efficient labelled fittings.

8. Run the washing machine only on a full load.

Limiting our time taking a shower, washing a full load of clothes, and even less obvious methods such as not littering our drains will translate into wasting less of our precious water resource. By changing the way we use water as a family inside our home, we can do our bit in helping to conserve and make every drop count.

Do you have more water saving tips to share? Share them in the comments below, or head over HERE for more water conservation tips.

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