There is further good news when it comes to saving water in the satellite city of Noida this Holi. Federation of Noida Residents Welfare Association ( FONRWA), have urged people not to use water during Holi. The decision comes after an appeal from a section of environmental activists owing to shortage of water in and around the city.
After the FONRWA urged citizens to curb water usage during Holi, which comes two days after World Water Day, the city residents unanimously decided to enjoy the occassion with herbal and natural colors like gulal. The residents claimed that even the smallest of changes can go a long way in preserving the environment. This time, parents are all up to educate their children about the negative impacts and hazards of playing Holi with water and colors made with chemicals in order to stop them from playing Holi with water and instead store the water. They claimed to urge school authorities to ensure Holi without using water and other intoxicated materials. “Pollution level of the air and water is already high in NCR and depletion of groundwater is also a serious matter of concern. We are trying to convince people to adopt more eco-friendly ways to celebrate the festivity,” said Ekta Mahajan, a resident of Sector-39.
The citizens said by focusing on having fun with gulal they want to show how Holi could be played without wasting water. “We are heading towards summer when the city faces drought so we wanted to send a message that the festival is about colours and not wasting water,” said Avinash Tiwari, a resident of Sector 71.
“The water consumption during Holi is three to four times more than usual days. Keeping in mind the depleting groundwater level in NCR, people should use water more sensibly while celebrating Holi. Roughly, 100 litres of water is used by a person while playing Holi and after celebrations are done, more water is used to remove the colours. Water used during Holi can’t be recycled as it is full of toxins. Moreover, it gets released into the domestic waste channels. A more eco-friendly approach should be adopted by the residents of this area while celebrating Holi,” said N P Singh, President of FONRWA.
“Wastage of water could be estimated that while playing Holi, a person uses at least two buckets of water. A bucket is of 15 litres, which means that about 30 litres of water is wasted by a person on Holi. If about five lakh persons play with water on Holi, then 150 lakh litre of water would be wasted. After all, Holi is a festival of colour, not festival of water hence people should play a dry Holi and feel it is a great idea. Colours are not just harmful but one also ends up wasting a lot of water when cleaning up after the festival. We always thought it was a great idea to play Holi with flowers. This year, when we heard that the social organisations/local bodies have encouraged people to play a dry Holi, we felt really great about the idea we have been pursuing all along.,” said Vikrant Tongad, an environmental activist.