15 edition- 28 July, 2010 [released date]

Big Problems, Simple Solutions

One of the major problems prevailing in India is “Water Scarcity”. Many a times in our childhood some or all of us must have made posters on water conservation. “Jal Ji Jeevan Hai”, “Save Water For A Better Tomorrow”, slogans like these are very common among children. But at Koshish we always look forward for a solution oriented attempt. So this time we have come up with an attempt which can, although little, be a solution to this problem.

“Save water from your Air-conditioner”

Brief description:

R Viswanathan, a retired mechanical engineer with Hindustan Teleprinters, has identified air conditioner as a vital appliance for water conservation.

 “In airconditioning units, the cooling coils not only cool the air passing around them, but also cause moisture in the air to condense. The condensate (water) is collected in a tray and channelled out through a drain or allowed to drop on the ground. This water is usually wasted. This can be collected and reused,” says Viswanathan.

People may not be open to drinking such water, but when he tested this water in his lab and it was found to be on a par with distilled water,”

A one-tonne air-conditioner produces two litres of water every hour, which means 16 litres over eight hours. That’s enough to wash your utensils, if you don’t have a garden to boast of.

Personal Experience:

One cognizant associate read this news and he brought this to the notice of Cognizant administration. Cognizant administration and the guy worked on this and now it is successfully implemented in one of the building of CTS in which there are AHU units producing 161 litres of water every day. Cognizant set up the infrastructure by spending just  ` 9000 to use this water for gardening.

What can be done:

When water scarcity is prevalent across the country, collection and reuse of water from air conditioners can help conserve thousands of litres of water in every neighbourhood.

A senior Chennai Metropolitan Water Supply and Sewerage Board (CMWSSB) official said that the idea could be implemented in individual houses. “In big apartments and commercial complexes, it may involve some cost to lay pipes.

You can also work with your admin departments to utilize the water produced by the ACs in your company for some useful purpose. The cost required to set up infrastructure would be very less and soon there will be Return on Investment. :)

This idea was shared by one of our readers, Priyanka Arora who is working in Cognizant, Pune.

Thanks Priyanka for sharing such a nice idea with us.

Please share your viewpoint with us.

NOTE: Our "Paathshala" is going good and will update you soon in next edition.

Thanks

Regards

The News Mug Group

 
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