What I can do for water and energy conservation

Apparently, I’m disgusting. And after you read this article you may accuse me of being preachy too, but I’ll take the hit if what I have to say has any impact on any of you out there. I guess that’s what being a preacher is all about.

Let’s start with the disgusting. At home I don’t flush the toilet every time after I go number one. Instead I ‘let the yellow mellow’ until the next time the toilet is used, and then the flush is used. If I’m feeling adventurous I might even wait until the third use of the toilet before sending the bowl contents into the murky depths of the KWSB. So why do I do it? I don’t enjoy the smell of ammonia, in fact I keep the lid down in between use to control the smell and to prevent any unhygienic consequences. I do it because I’m trying to conserve water. It’s estimated that toilets account for about 28 per cent of household water use. By cutting down on flushes I can reduce my water usage by 14 per cent. Now imagine if everyone with flush toilets followed suit, we’d save millions upon millions of gallons of water. See? I’m already preaching.

There are lots of ways to conserve the vital resources that Pakistan seems to be rapidly running out of. You can install toilets with ULV (ultra low volume) flushes, or place a brick in the water reservoir to reduce the amount of water that the toilet uses. When I run the shower to get it to the right temperature, I place a bucket underneath to save the water, and that bucket of water can later be used to flush the toilet. What about electricity? Unfortunately the most effective conservation tool seems to be the never ending increases in power tariff. I think twice about leaving an extra light on or what temperature the AC is set to. Energy saver light bulbs may be expensive and ugly, but they help cut down on energy costs. Then there’s fuel. Rising international prices and a government desperate for revenue mean we’re paying plenty to gas up our vehicles. Sick of spending thousands every month, I’ve been experimenting with the concept of ‘hypermiling’ — every time you use the brakes you are wasting petrol so instead of driving fast and screeching to a halt, you coast at a steady speed, using the accelerator only to maintain momentum. I’ve increased my mileage by 15–20 per cent for every tank of gas. Look it up online if you’re interested in learning more on how to do this safely and effectively.

I didn’t mean to preach, but here I am. We can rant and rave at the government to do more to improve the lot of the average citizen, and rightly so. But we have to do our part too. I’ll conserve electricity, but I’m sick of paying for other people’s electricity because of thuggery and political fear. I’ll try and save water, but please let’s improve our antiquated canal system to prevent water loss. I’ll reduce my fuel use, but let’s please keep prices in line with international trends. I’m still one of the lucky ones who can afford, and have access to, water, electricity and fuel, but there are millions of Pakistanis forced to live without these essentials, and that’s got to change.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 26^th, 2010.