Your 3-point programme
Solar water heater, rain barrel and kitchen composter are a must in every house, says S. Vishwanath
The three products address a part of the crisis gripping urban India— energy, water and waste. So, do you have a solar water heater? A rain barrel? A kitchen waste composter? No? What are you waiting for? Yes? Well done then.
A solar water heater works fine for about 300 days in a year in a city like Bangalore. It preheats water for the rest of the 65 cloudy or rainy days. A hot water bath being a dire necessity for any self-respecting Indian, the solar water heater is a boon.
It saves money to boot, with fast increasing electricity prices and pays back for itself in about four years. No wonder then that Bangalore has the largest number of solar water heaters for any city in India. Many solar water heaters are available in the market and the choice is wide.
A rain barrel or even any other form of rainwater harvesting such as a filter and storage in a sump tank or even a recharge well to top up the groundwater aquifer is another must in an era of water shortage, bad water quality and sky rocketing price for water tankers. This works for the 60 days that it rains in the city and depending on the use can supplement water requirements quite a lot. Consider getting and installing a rain barrel, takes half a day and you can get all the year’s drinking and cooking water supply straight from the Indian Ocean. Rain barrels have to be bought and installed and any well-trained plumber can do that. If you want to buy rain filters many are available in the market.
The mountain of waste that a city throws up now exercises the highest political leadership of the land as well as the judiciary. The solution begins at home. A kitchen composter can take the segregated waste which can be bio-degraded and turns it to rich compost which can be used in pots and gardens to grow the organic ‘bhindi’ which you so crave or even the brinjals for that matter.
This simple act of segregation, composting and recycling which would take no more than 5 minutes of your time can save tonnes of monies for the local government, acres of land and water which would otherwise be polluted beyond description and keep our environment clean. Readymade composters are available with bio-additives which hasten the process of composting in the city and outside.
Now that you have the three essential products for basic survival how about a cycle for moving around instead of your car? How about some solar lighting systems with LED bulbs? How about a kitchen bio-gas plant to generate your cooking gas requirement?
A fast expanding list for a responsible citizen which you and the city will be proud of.
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