International Longevity Centre Global Alliance - Designing the Future of Ageing

25th April 2017

India is facing an acute water crisis for some years now and it is imperative that conserving water becomes a priority for the nation. ILC-I explores how senior citizens can take the lead to address this issue.

A lecture to create awareness on “Water Conservation- The Role of Senior Citizens” was organized by the International Longevity Centre-India (ILC-I) on the 22nd of March 2017 with the support of Gharda Chemicals Ltd at the Lenyadri Society Hall, Pashan- Sus Road, Pashan, on the occasion of the World Water Day marked by the United Nations.

The lecture was delivered by the Water Conservation Expert, Col. Shashikant Dalvi, District Manager (Pune), The Climate Reality Project, India, to bring to the attention of society the need for and importance of saving and conserving water, given the global changes that are taking place resulting in acute water scarcity and shortage all over our country.

The World Water Day as advocated by UN was the apt day for focusing on not just what needs to be done, but also on what can be done by members of society and more so by the senior citizens of our country.

Prior to the lecture, a “Walk for Water” was also held wherein around 150 senior citizens along with some young volunteers walked a stretch of two kilometers along the Pashan-Sus Road, shouting slogans of “Save Water, Save Life”, and the like, urging citizens to not waste water and work towards conserving and saving it. Many of the residents of the more than 30 housing societies along the road as also curious onlookers stopped by to watch and absorb the message that the senior citizens were so committedly pleading for in the hot sun on an early March morning.

The senior citizens had been given bags containing a water-bottle, a cap, a tetra pack fruit drink and a packet of biscuits to keep them going and stay energized as they walked the walk.

The ILC-I staff had also prepared special placards on the occasion of the World Water Day advocating messages on a Green environment, on how to save water and why, and these placards were enthusiastically held aloft by the senior citizens along with banners.

Col. Dalvi, while addressing the senior citizens after the Walk for Water, spoke of how there are simple ways in which water could be saved or conserved and how the senior citizens themselves could spread this message of water conservation through Valueducation programmes where children are educated on such social causes by senior citizens.

 He further added that Senior citizens could also undertake Rainwater harvesting promotion projects by orienting builders, housing societies to the concept of saving or conserving rainwater that goes waste,  down terraces and rooftops of our houses and buildings and to install rainwater harvesting systems on their rooftops to conserve water which could then be used when there was less rainfall- which has in fact, become a perennial problem in India for quite some years now.

The seniors were very enthused to participate in this ‘Walk for Water’ and also happy to receive a lot of information on what they could do to help India conserve water.

Written by Anjali Raje, Executive Director, ILC-I