Water pollution, droughts and unavailability of clean drinking water! All these imply that our nation is standing at an initial point of a problem, where most of the areas will have no drinking water of its own. Indian will soon struggle to meet its necessity of essential resources, and this can be predicted by seeing the present condition of water scarcity in various parts of India. The water crisis of the nation is getting worse day by day, with the rising unavailability of clean water, increased percentage of contaminated water and the decreased underground level of water.

But still, there are many unsung water heroes of India, who have already started a mission towards water conservation. This water conservation mission is nothing else but a pledge to save the nation from the water scarcity problem.  Let’s know such two water heroes of India, who are known as water dada in Maharashtra. They have started making a difference to protect the planet earth and its resources.

The Two Water Heroes Who Introduced a Way to Save 40,000 Liters per Day

Vedant Goel and Yusuf Soni are those two water heroes, who are the real face behind this mission of water conservation. These founder members of ‘I Need Sai’ organization in Pune started a special initiative of saving water through school students in the year 2016. The idea was simple with the only target, i.e. ‘conserving the leftover water in the water bottles of the students in a drum and re-using the conserved water for purposes such as washing the school toilets, watering the plants or washing the school vehicles.’

This idea not only worked but also has achieved a milestone of saving more than 40,000 litres of water every day, at present. Water dada Vedant and water dada Yusuf have successfully tied up with 52 schools to date with a total of more than 1.30 lac students. These students are contributing to this initiative and help in spreading awareness.

According to Vedant, “Our main motto was to educate these students about the importance and value of water. We wanted to spread the awareness of how misuse and wastage of water can lead to a black future of the nation. Fortunately, we have accomplished this mission of water conservation, and we look forward to taking it to the national level’.

How did it start?

These water heroes of India were involved in a lot of social activity campaigns since their college days. Both of the water dada being college friends, they have also recorded their names in Limca Book of World Records. The record was regarding the conduct of the most significant dental awareness camp. In 2015, while they were packing up after the conduction of dental awareness camp in a school of Pune, they noticed water wastage behaviour of the students. What they saw was most of the students were wasting the leftover water from their water bottles at the time of returning home. The incident inspired these water heroes to take a step where this wasted water can be collected and re-used for a purpose.

Vedant and Yusuf started installing big drums on the school campus, where they instructed the students to pour the leftover water from their water bottles before going home. The action led to substantial positive results from the students as this unique idea of water reservation started working. Soon, they expanded their reach to various other schools and more students. This water conservation activity is now successfully saving more than 40,000 litres of water every day. Water heroes Vedant and Yusuf are now planning to join hands with the government to take this initiative to the national level. However, both of the water dada have set their new target to reach at least 15 to 20 lac students, which is 1.30 lacs, at present.

Water Heroes have Changed People’s Behaviour towards Water Usage

The water conservation initiative from these water heroes of India has not only started influencing the children but also their parents. The greatest achievement of the initiative is that most of the people have started valuing and conserving water, which they used to waste generally without even thinking. A common thought in most of the minds is ‘Water is free’ has been changed to ‘Water is valuable.’ These young water heroes have successfully spread awareness, which was of utmost importance at this stage. At this stage, most of the parts of our nation are not getting adequate water supply.

Children are the future of our nation. If these children are learning the value of water, know the risks of water scarcity, and ways to re-use conserved water for sustainable uses, and then it’s a bright future for our nation. Vedant and Yusuf have shown us a way to save our country from a devastating disaster of water scarcity. These water heroes of India have brought a positive change in the people of Maharashtra. They are still working to bring the difference out of Maharashtra, to the other states, so that more and more people join this initiative and take part in the active campaign of water conservation. The more people become a part of this initiative, the more water will be saved!