Sustainable living is a lifestyle which aims to reduce the use of earth’s natural resources. It helps us reduce carbon footprint by changing the way we consume energy, from the medium of transportation to our diet. The concept of sustainable living is also growing in Nepal.
Ms. Sharda Rijal, Executive Director of Center for media freedom, is one person who avidly follows and promotes sustainable living. From sustainable water usage to driving a green vehicle; she definitely has one of the most eco-friendly homes in the community.
She explains, “I always had a growing awareness of the burgeoning water crisis in Kathmandu Valley. When I moved to my new house, community and government water supply was not available. I was spending money on tanker water.”
In order to fulfill her household water demand from drinking to utility purpose, she needed a sustainable water solution. Being a reporter she recalls creating stories on ecofriendly approaches for city dwellers, from there it took her a simple Google search to find SmartPaani. She found out about its services like groundwater filtration, rainwater harvesting, and greywater recycling. Presently, it’s been 3 months that she has all three systems at her residence in Bungamati.
She softly shares, “Compared to the cost of building a house, cost of installing these systems are negligible. But the benefit of these systems far exceeds the cost. The rainwater harvesting system provides more than 116,480 Liters of water annually. After using what we need, we recharge our ground well. During dry seasons we use well water with the help of biosand filter.”
Their greywater system recycles 80% of the daily water for reuse. They use recycled water for washing vehicles and gardening purpose. When SmartPaani’s team met Ms. Rijal she mentioned: “I recommend this to everybody.”
Sustainable living comes with numerous benefits from the promise of good health to reduced costs. It also reduces the impact on our environment. In a country like Nepal, where both access to and the quality of water are major issues, we need sustainable water solutions in every household. Although households consume less water compared to hotels or hospitals they definitely make a significant impact on our society.
SmartPaani helps both new and existing homes by providing them cost-effective solutions that enables them to be more water interdependent.
