In a bid to conserve water, many restaurants in the city of Pune have started serving half-filled glass of water to the customers.
Also, they would not fill up the glasses, until asked for.
The initiative has been taken by the Pune Restaurants and Hoteliers Association (PRAHA) to save water from wastage.
The move came in the wake of water scarcity in the city earlier this year, and with the winter season set to begin, the Pune Municipal Corporation has announced 10 percent cuts in supply for citizens.
Ganesh Shetty, president, PRAHA, said Pune was facing water shortage, adding that his eatery, Kalinga in Erandwane area, had adopted the “half-filled water glass” measure as had several other establishments.
He continued that, “Earlier, we needed about 1,600 litres of water per day in our hotel.
But since we adopted this measure and started serving half glass water to our visitors, we managed to save almost 50 per cent water daily.” In addition to ‘Half-Filled Glass’ initiative, PRAHA will be handing out theme cards to several hotels and restaurants to spread awareness on water scarcity and measures to save water.
So far, 800 members hotels and 3,500 other hotels in the city have been covered under the initiative; one restaurant claims to save 50 percent of its daily consumption of 1,600 litres of water.

Madurai: Implementing effective rainwater harvesting methods, augmentation of water resources, desilting of waterbodies with public private partnerships, judicious use of groundwater and water safety through proper infrastructure are the ways a city like Madurai need to look for to overcome its water scarcity, said Madurai Corporation commissioner Aneesh Sekhar.
Inaugurating the CII Tamil Nadu Water Conclave 2018, solutions to manage water resources effectively, in the presence of Dr S Rajamohan, chairman, CII Madurai Zone, he said that though the city had planned to meet its water requirements through the Rs 1,025-crore project by bringing 125 MLD of water to the city, a lot of efforts had to be taken to protect and preserve the existing water resources.
The civic body was treating about 25 to 30 MLD of water which is used for irrigation now.
The industries should think of innovative ways to avoid excess use of groundwater, he said.
“We can learn from countries such as Singapore and Israel in this aspect,” he said adding that Madurai was one of the cities where water was priced very low at Rs 900 for domestic usage and Rs 1,500 for commercial use per annum.
Reusing waste water for gardening is the best practice which could reduce usage by 30%.
Traditional MSMEs, which were the biggest employers next to agriculture in the country, were operating with less than 50% of their capacity because they are facing environmental litigations as many of them are established near rivers, said chief operating officer of Tamil Nadu Water Investment Company I Sajid Hussain.
He said that 30% of them had been closed down owing to charges of polluting waterbodies.
He said that zero liquid discharge (ZLD) was the solution to this problem.
Companies in Tirupur had been able to bounce back and increase their exports by following these ZLD practices.

A central government team will be in Gujarat from December 16 to 18 to survey the water scarcity-hit areas in the state.
The Vijay Rupani government had sent a memorandum to the Center seeking aid for 51 talukas under the State Disaster Response Fund.
The central government team will sanction the request after surveying the area.
Revenue Minister Kaushik Patel said: “Initially, we had declared 14 talukas of the state as scarcity-hit after poor monsoon there.
We had then added 34 more talukas to the list as per the new norms of SDRF and calamity approved by central government.
The central team will travel to these areas and then allow us to use SDRF fund for relief after the survey.” He said the government has decided to declare 45 more talukas as scarcity-hit.
“The state government will spend money for relief for these areas from contingency funds,” Patel added.
The state government on Wednesday reviewed the relief measures taken so far as well as future plans.
The revenue minister said: “The government will start paying relief to cattle owners and cattle camps from December 15.
We are going to pay Rs 25 per day for each cattle kept in camps.

6 of a project provided by the U.N. in an effort to “achieve a better and more sustainable future for all by the year 2030,” as per its website.
This event targeted water consumption and preservation for fellow Titans.
“Over 2.1 billion people in the world lack access to safe water.
What we’re trying to do is raise awareness about water,” said Michael Guzman, global health chair for the United Nations Association at Cal State Fullerton.
Part of the water awareness impact the U.N. wants to have is strengthening the participation of communities on the local level in improving and sanitizing their own water resources.
“If we look at our own water use, it’s interesting to see how much water we use daily.
We use about 200 to 300 liters of water daily.
According to UNICEF’s water, sanitation and hygiene team, there are about 2.4 billion individuals who do not have modern sanitation and 663 million who do not have access to modern water sources.
On the global level, still more than 40 percent of the population faces water scarcity, but by 2030 the U.N. hopes to “achieve universal and equitable access to safe and affordable drinking water for all.” This is a goal shared by the United Nations Association on campus, which hopes that students can do their part in raising awareness about local and personal water conservation.
“Never mistake that people can make a difference.

A recent Water Aid report finds that India is among the top countries with the worst access to clean water close to homes.
Waterborne diseases such as cholera, diarrhoea, typhoid and viral hepatitis continue to dominate in many parts of the country, causing the death of nearly 10,000 plus people in the country over the last five years.
Urban India affected too While a number of cities in India are struggling to cope with increasing water scarcity due to declining groundwater levels, water quality continues to be a major problem posing a serious health risk.
However, this water continues to be of questionable quality and has been found to be exposed to severe pollution and deterioration of groundwater quality.
Drinking water in Bengaluru A study titled "Drinking water contamination from peri-urban Bengaluru" published in the journal ‘Current Science’ assessed the extent of contamination of water available from these reservoirs by analysing the drinking water quality at the source and that used in the households from eight peri-urban villages located near the Vrishabhavathi-Byramangala reservoir in the city.
The study found that: As high as 80 percent of water samples at the source was contaminated and presented a moderate to high risk for diarrhoea.
Only seven percent of household drinking water samples were found to comply with the WHO’s permissible limits, while all the remaining drinking water samples (93 percent) were found to be contaminated with coliforms.
Drinking water from borewells at Byramangala Panchayat was found to be highly polluted with coliforms indicating the possibility of faecal contamination around the areas of the reservoir due to the inflow of sewage and industrial effluents into the reservoir.
Nitrate levels were greater than the permissible levels in all drinking water sources from the villages surrounding Vrishabhavathi–Byramangala reservoir, indicating progressive deterioration of groundwater quality and a high risk to health.
The levels of drinking water contamination at the household level were found to be higher than that at the source, which could be due to poor sanitation and hygiene practices, faulty handling and other socio-cultural practices.

So far, 800 members hotels and 3,500 other hotels in the city have been covered under the initiative; one restaurant claims to save 50 percent of its daily consumption of 1,600 litres of water.
If you are served half-filled water glass in any restaurant in Pune, do not be surprised, as this is a step taken by the Pune Restaurants and Hoteliers Association (PRAHA) to save water from wastage.
In addition to ‘Half-Filled Glass’ initiative, PRAHA will be handing out theme cards to several hotels and restaurants to spread awareness on water scarcity and measures to save water.
The cards have been distributed to over 800 member hotels and 3,500 hotels that aren’t members of the association but are located in the city.
The leftover water is recycled and used for watering plants and cleaning the floor.
Many places have put in new toilets that use less water; we have put in water harvesting plants and the staff is briefed on minimising water use.
Located in the western state of Maharashtra, Pune and several areas face acute shortage of water every year.
According to a government report earlier this year, India is facing a severe water crisis, which has affected 600 million people so far.
Experts blame climate change, deforestation and rapid growth of urban population.
And in the Pune, the Khadakwasla dam has been not desilted in a timely manner because of which its water storing capacity has been depleting ever since.

Islamabad: Pakistan is at risk of water scarcity and is among the most affected Asian nations by extreme weather events on account of global climate change.
Water is becoming an increasingly scarce resource in Pakistan.
In this regard, Advisor to Prime Minister Imran Khan on Climate Change Malik Amin Aslam said Pakistan was vulnerable to water problems as there are many aspects to it; some time Pakistan has excess of water, resulting in floods, and sometimes Pakistan faces shortage of water because we fail to store it effectively.
To overcome all these harms, he said, Pakistan has to make good water management policies.
"PM (Imran Khan) has already announced the new projects, he said, adding: “Pakistan is making a feasibility report, which may take almost six months after which the implementation of projects will begin."
However, to make more than one project is necessary to tackle Pakistan’s water crises as climate change is unpredictable, he said.
Not only Pakistan but also many other countries, especially developing countries are facing populations economy and environmental needs, in this regard PM khan has also announced its alternative policies which will fulfill these basic demands.
These projects include: promoting renewable energy, enhancing forest cover worldwide expanding clean and efficient public transportation, and many more.
Talking about the benefits of PM Khan’s initiatives, he said that projects will be helpful in creating new green jobs.

LONDON, Dec 7 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) – Water scarcity affects almost half the world’s population, a number that is expected to rise in the coming decades even as global warming, population growth, urbanisation and rising agricultural needs put further strain on supplies.
The issue was on Friday’s agenda in the Polish town of Katowice, where representatives of more than 190 countries have come together for U.N.-sponsored climate talks.
Following is information on some of the countries most threatened by water scarcity.
More than half of Niger’s 20 million people do not have access to clean water.
Only one in 10 people has access to a decent toilet.
About 10 percent of Pakistan’s population does not have access to clean water.
In 1947, the figure stood at about 5,000 cubic metres per person.
Today it is 1,000 cubic metres.
Pakistan has more glaciers than any other country outside the polar region.
In Sudan, a country of 43 million people, only 2 percent of water is available for domestic use.

From finishing the pending water supply projects to filling the summer storage tanks, the officials have expedited all works and are targeting to complete them in the next three months.
While the Panchayat Raj and Rural Development department has set a target to complete water supply works worth Rs 1,329 crore, which are being undertaken through the National Rural Drinking Water Programme (NRDWP), NABARD and other programmes, works worth only Rs 248 crore were completed by the end of November.
“We are taking measures for the construction of water harvesting structures and completion of the new and old supply schemes by March next year,” the officials said.
According to the officials, a total of 347 mandals were hit by a drought across the State during the early Kharif-2018.
Out of them, 325 mandals were ‘severely hit’, while 22 were ‘moderately hit’ and the department had laid special focus on these areas.
Further, the department is in the process of ensuring that over 1,600 summer storage tanks are filled in the next four months.
Of them, close to 1,300 tanks are filled to a minimum of 50 per cent.
The remaining will be filled in the next three months.
Tenders for the remaining nine packages have also been invited,” another official said.
While the bidding process for the works in Krishna, West Godavari, Prakasam and Visakhapatnam districts have been concluded, tenders have been issued for the works in Guntur, Vizianagaram, Nellore, Anantapur, Kurnool and Kadapa districts.

Speaking on Thursday during an inspection tour of Kakovu earth dam in Mwitika, Kitui East Sub-County, Bishop Kyavoa, who is an advisor in the office of Governor Charity Ngilu observed that some of the earth dams have already harvested water from the recent rains.
“Kwa Kalii earth dam in Kanziku ward, Kitui South Sub County as below is now full of water.
Bishop Kyavoa disclosed that rainwater harvesting has been in existence for many decades as a way of augmenting available water resources in the world.
‘In the years of its existence, rainwater harvesting has positively impacted life, agriculture and economy,” he added.
Despite these known benefits of rainwater harvesting, Kitui County’s population is slowly adopting rainwater harvesting technologies, ‘Water scarcity still remains a major constraint to life and economic development in the County.’ Although clean and safe water is a treasured commodity, many people in Kitui County do not have access to it.
Caritas Kitui Director Florence Ndeti observes that water shortage affects rural women more since it’s their cultural role to provide water.
“They are more concerned with rainwater harvesting projects as compared to men.
Therefore, training and awareness creation on rainwater harvesting amongst women should be enhanced,” said Ndeti.
She said that literacy levels influence adoption of rainwater harvesting to enable school going children attend lessons rather than being at home helping their parents search for water for domestic use.
By Yobesh Onwong’a