HOW MUCH WATER ARE YOU WASTING?

Water is one of the most important natural resource and is vital for all aspects of life. Ninety seven and half% of water is available as oceans and one% of remaining is fresh water that is available for humans. Many people don’t even realize how much water they waste on daily basis. According to the Geological survey of India the average person wastes up to 50-100 gallons of water every day (1 gallon=4.54 litres approx). As we are provided with 24hr water supply, we are not realizing the importance of it and continuously wasting water for our daily needs. Just imagine our life without water or water is available in limited supply. It’s time for us to wake up and realize its importance and conserve water for our future needs.

Here is a Pie chart representing the several ways and percentage of water getting wasted at home by a person:

Let’s go to detailed information about the ways of water wastage at home and the tips to conserve water at home:

  a)TOILETS:

                                                      

·Toilet flushing is most common way of water wastage at home. It consumes almost half of the daily household water consumption.

·Toilet flushing uses about 5 gallons of water per flush.

·Some people throw cigarette butts,tissue papers or some trash into toilets and flush them.It uses up to 7 gallons of water per flush.

 

vConservation Tips:

§  Install low flush toilets in your homes that use only 2 gallons of water per flush.

§  Don’t flush cigarette butts, tissues or any waste in toilets. Use a separate dustbin to throw the wastes. Don’t use your toilet flush as a wastebasket.

 

b)  Cloth washers/ Washing machines:

· Cloth washers are the second most common way of water wastage at home.

· Cloth washers are of two types-front loaded washers and top loaded washers.

· Top loaded washers use up to 40 gallons of water per load in each cycle and Front loaded washers use up to 10-24 gallons of water per load because the front ones use gravity for the rest of the work.

 

v  Conservation Tips:

§  Use the cloth washers whenever you have a full load of clothes. Don’t use washing machines unnecessarily for less number of clothes.

§  When you want to buy a new washing machine, look for a model that uses less water and energy  controls like the front loaded washing machine.

c)Showers:

·Showers also consume greatest quantity of water in our homes.

· Showers can use 5-10 gallons of water per minute.

·Many people take long showers and waste liters of water for their fun in showers.

 

vConservation Tips:

§Try to reduce your showering time.

§Turn off the shower while you are soaping or shampooing.

§Replace your old shower heads with low-flow showerheads which use only 2.5 gallons of water per minute.

                                                   

d)Faucets and leaks:

·Nearly 20% of the homes have leaks in their faucets or pipes that waste around 90or more gallons of water per day.

·These leaks are found in dripping faucets, pipes, valves.

·These repairs can be done easily in our homes and can save more than 15% of our water bill.   

vConservation Tips:

§Leaky faucets can be reduced by checking the faucet valves,faucets washers and gaskets and replacing them whenever there is a leak.

§Toilet leaks can be found out easily by a simple method .Put few drops of food coloring in your   toilet tank .If the color appears in the bowl within 30 min without flushing then there is a leak in your toilet tank that should be repaired immediately.

 

e)Bath:

·An average bathtub can hold up to 40-60 gallons of water when it is completely filled.

·Sometimes we forget to close the drain and open the faucet to fill the bath tub.By the time we realize that the drain is not closed so much water will be wasted (around 100-150 gallons).

                                                         

vConservation Tips:
§Close the drain before filling the bath tub.
§Don’t fill the bath tub completely. Fill it partially just enough to cover your body. This can conserve more than half of water wasted during the bath.

f)Dish washers:
·Dish washers are the common way of wasting water in kitchen.
·They use up to 12-17 gallons of water per load in each cycle.
vConservation Tips:
§Use the dish washers whenever there is a full load .Don’t use it unnecessarily for two or three vessels.
§Use the options prewash, rinse-hold, and scrub cycles of your dish washer only when they are necessary .Because these cycles take more water than normal cycle.

g)Others:
·The most common way of wasting water at home is leaving running water when brushing teeth, shaving, and dish washing. If we leave running water for one min about 3to4 gallons of water will be wasted.
·Car washing is another way of wasting water. Using a hose (long tube) to wash the car can use up to 6 gallons of water per min. If the hose is left running while washing the car it ends up in wasting about 150 or more gallons of water.
·Lawns look beautiful, but the amount of water that goes wasted by watering the plants improperly i.e. watering the lawn during windy day or during a very hot day is like simply wasting hundreds of gallons of water per week.
·Unknowingly we waste lot of water in kitchen like washing fruits and vegetables under running water which waste 5 gallons of water per min.
·Everyone loves to play with water in swimming pools. An average of 1000 gallons of water is wasted every month for our fun.
vConservation Tips:
§Turn the faucet off as soon as you start brushing, shaving, or doing dishes.
§Simply use a bucket and sponge to clean your car instead of a hose. It will be a good exercise for your body while saving water.
§Avoid watering the plants during a very hot day which will evaporate all the water or during a  windy day in which all the water get blown off. Check the roots of the plants for moisture before watering them.
§Wash the fruits and vegetables in a pan filled with water and don’t throw this water away, you can use this water for watering indoor plants.
§Do not waste the water unnecessarily for swimming pools for fun.

Conclusion:           

Water is god gift to us; it must be conserved for us future utilities.Let us keep all these in mind and   make it a habit of not wasting water and explain every one about the drawbacks of wasting water and preserve our natural resource.

HOW BAD IS NAIL BITING?

 

                                              Nail biting is a habit of biting your fingernails or toe nails. It is an oral compulsive habit seen in children and adults. It is an impulse control behavior that involves compulsively damaging ones physical appearance or causing physical injury. Impulse control disorder is a class of psychiatric disorder described by impulsivity means failure to resist a temptation. Nail biting is recognized as a result of nervousness, stress, hunger or boredom, all of which are products of anxiety.

SIDE EFFECTS OF NAIL BITING

1)   Paronychia:

• Biting nails can lead to broken skin on the cuticle (outer layer of skin). When the cuticles are broken and exposed, they are more prone to bacterial or viral infections such as Paronychia.
• The pinworms or bacteria from mouth or environment enters the cuts and cracks of the skin around the nails, and causes infections called paronychia.

 

2)    Big-headed fingers:

• Biting the finger nails leads to red painful fingertips. Sometimes the nail biters bite their nails too deeply that leads to extreme pain or bleeding means the fingertips of the nail biters can get swollen and the nail bed gets damaged and it is referred to as Big-headed fingers.

3)      Gum infections:

• Nail biting causes damaged teeth or broken teeth.
• The germs and bacteria from underneath nail nter your mouth and causes broken or damaged teeth which in return leads to severe gum infections.

4)      Cuticle picking:

• Onychophagia is a disorder which involves continuous biting, chewing, picking of one’s fingernails and cuticles around them.
• By continuously picking or biting the area around the fingernails (i.e. cuticle),it  leads to bleeding and painful whenever you touch any object that results in painful red lesions.

5)      Psychological effects:

• Nail biting may cause self-consciousness or lack of confidence and embarrassment, which may lead to worry, stress and anxiety and may, in turn, cause more nail biting.

REMEDIES FOR NAIL BITING

• Many people bite their nails due to stress, bore and anxiety. whenever you feel worried about something take some steps that put you in a relaxed state like deep breathing exercise, cool bath, listening to soft music.
• Keeping your hands and mouth in some activities as playing musical instrument, playing a sport or video games, crunch a chewing gum in mouth.
• Keep your nails well trimmed and manicured regularly.
• Try the products that are aimed to give bitter taste to your nails as mavala nail treatment stop, Stops Nail Biting Deterrent 7.5ml,etc. when you put your fingers into your mouth to bite them they give a horrible taste and gradually you will reduce nail biting.