india

Updated: Aug 27, 2017 22:41 IST

For Union environment minister Harsh Vardhan, water conservation begins at his office.

Vardhan has asked staffers at the Paryavaran Bhawan in Delhi to use less water for flushing toilets, and do away with the practice of doling out drinking water bottles at conferences. What’s more, the minister has come up with a novel idea to prevent flush tanks from ejecting more water than needed. An official explains it for our benefit.

Most flush tanks have a capacity of over five litres, which can be excessive at times. According to Vardhan, placing a bottle or any other harmless object of a similar size in them can help save up to a litre of water each time the flush lever is pushed.

The minister has calculated that if the 140 toilets at the Paryavaran Bhavan are flushed five times daily on an average for 240 days, the adoption of such a technique would help the ministry save as many as 1,68,000 litres (168 tonnes) of water annually. Now, imagine the impact his idea would have if it is adopted at toilets across the country.

The minister’s other conservation measure involves replacing PET water bottles at conference halls with small glasses of water. Besides cutting down on plastic consumption, such a method would also result in less wastage of water.

But wouldn’t that mean more work for the attendants involved? “No. Just place a water container in the room and ask people to help themselves,” says another official, adding that the idea would be conveyed to other ministries once it is successfully implemented at Paryavaran Bhawan.

Another idea touted by the minister involves meeting morning walkers at parks and urging them to cycle to work. However, the question whether cycling around the city is safe happens to be another matter altogether.