We observe World Water Day every year on March 22, to highlight the importance of water. But how much attention do we give to the amount of water we use everyday? According to a 2008 World Bank report, an average Indian household performs approximately 340 wash cycles in a year and this accounts for approximately 40.7 kilowatt hour of electricity, 47.5 kilolitre of water and 27 kilogram (kg) of detergent per household per year. We have to wash our clothes and use water and energy in our day-to-day lives, but here’s a way we can save the environment as well as a lot of money on laundry!

The inability to provide safe drinking water to communities features at the very top of our list of developmental failures, with the disastrous consequence of high mortality rates. In 1996, the World Health Organisation (WHO) stated that each year, more than five million human beings died from illnesses linked to unsafe drinking water. It is further estimated that, by 2020, 135 million people will die from water-related diseases unless they are not only provided adequate water but access to clean drinking water.