Water is the basis of life, yet, we take it so much for granted. If there is no water there is no life. Can you imagine what would happen if there is no drinkable water left? The thought itself is very distressing. Yet unfortunately, if we do not learn how to use this natural resource more judiciously it may become a reality sooner than we think.
Kim Wilkie, sustainability expert and landscape artist has said,
bottled water costs more than petrol, and yet each of us flushes around fifty liters of drinking water [the equivalent of a tank of petrol] down the toilet every day.
Thankfully, there are some people who are thinking on the lines of water conservation. A group of Design Products students from the Royal College of Art, London, are trying to bring out this nonchalance with respect to water, through their innovative exhibition, Slow Water.
There definitely could not have been a better time for this exhibition, with global warming making its presence felt across the world in the form of unprecedented floods, tsunamis, earthquakes, severe heat, and receding glaciers.
The exhibition has some very innovative products on display, like Jessica Nebel’s Take-away Sink, a kitchen sink with a built-in, detachable bucket that encourages the re-use of water, or Raquel Martins’ ingenious shower curtain printed with heat sensitive ink that alerts the person washing themselves that they’re using too much water by changing the pattern as it comes into contact with more and more hot water!
I am sure if each one of us becomes a little more careful with our water consumption, we would be able to save millions of gallons of water everyday.
So, if you happen to be in London from the 21 September to 4 October, do try and visit the exhibition, Slow Water, being held at the Royal College of Art, Kensington Gore from 10am-6pm daily (Admission Free). To make the experience even more enriching, you could even attend the lecture Slow Water – Designing for Sustainability.
