I REGULARLY get my car washed at an oil marketing company station near my residence. Chatting up with the car wash attendant, I learnt they had recently installed a water filtration plant that gathers up water that goes down the drain and recycles it for future use.

He further told me that this enables them to save at least 70 per cent of water they use. I was astounded. Hundreds, if not thousands of litres of water is used every day at this station. It got me thinking, Pakistan is in the middle of a water crisis — why in the world hasn’t anyone thought of this before?

Further probe led me to find out that a prominent international organisation has signed an agreement with this particular oil marketing company to install these water filtration plants at all of their service stations throughout the country.

I applaud both organisations for this commendable step. Any efforts made to conserve water and avert the water crisis should be taken seriously.

The authorities concerned should take notice and instruct all oil marketing companies to install water filtration plants at their retail outlets. Considering the amount of water that is used at car wash stations, this will be a huge step in conservation of water throughout Pakistan.

Syed Ovais Akhtar

Karachi

Published in Dawn, December 7th, 2019