Waste Water Can Also Be Useful

Have you ever tried placing a basin under the tap while washing your hands, so as not to let the water go to waste? Actually the water can still be recycled for other uses at home. 

We may never fully appreciate what it means to run out of water without experiencing water-rationing in our lifetime. 70-year-old Tiam Liw, a full-time Yoga instructor, has had many “water-related” experiences in her life, including days of water-rationing after a dry spell, flooding after heavy rainfalls, and even drawing water from a well for daily use, etc. These experiences have deeply imprinted in her mind and made her realize the importance of treasuring our limited water resources. Moreover, her family had once fallen into financial hardship, and this galvanized her intention to save on the family’s monthly utilities, to help reduce their financial burden. Thus, over time, saving water has become an essential part of her daily habits.  

Actually, in our daily life, the water from our laundry is not waste water, hence, as much as possible, we should try not to let it go to waste. Tiam Liw’s water-saving tips are actually very simple. She does her laundry on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, and the dirty water from the first wash cycle is used to flush the toilet; following which, water from the second wash cycle is used to wash the toilet and toilet bowl; the water from the final cycle is used to mop the floor. These little thoughtful actions of her, not only reduce water consumption, but also serve to protect our precious water resources. 

Whether she is washing hands or dishes, she will always put a small basin under the running tap. When showering, she will carefully stand in a basin, after which she will store the collected water in a corner for cleaning purposes. Her mindfulness has enabled each pail of waste water to be put into good use, to minimize water wastage in every way possible. 

Besides saving water, she also makes environmentally-friendly enzymes with discarded fruit peels, water, and sugar. Most people will use plastic bags as garbage bin bags, but Tiam Liw has cleverly folded old newspapers into rubbish bags for her rubbish bins, as part of her daily efforts to reduce the use of plastics in her daily life. She believes that after realizing the importance of protecting our planet, we must try our best to do it, and added that we should not just know what to do, but also put it into action.   

Tiam Liw doesn’t find it a hassle at all to save water. If there are certain things she wants to achieve, she will just do it. As the saying goes: habit becomes second nature. She shared that if we consistently do something for 21 days, it will become a habit. Admittedly, it’s never easy for a person to kick a particular habit, and she feels that it’s indeed not easy to be a good influence to others. Presently, all she can do is to influence the people around her to conserve water and change their water-using habits by demonstrating water-saving habits in her own life. 

Photo by Ng Sher Lin 

Photo by Ng Sher Lin