A national award-winning Indian author going door-to-door fixing leaky faucets has saved 20 million litres of water

• Every Sunday, Aabid Surti, an award-winning Indian author, goes door to door to correct leaky taps in the Mumbai suburbs of Mira road for free.
• The activity takes him a couple of hours, but it could save litres of water, something the country is short of.
  
• He is the city’s ‘Water Warrior’ and introduced a water conservation model in 2007 through his 'one-man' NGO, Drop Dead Foundation.
  
• As many as 100 million people in the country are already suffering from the nation-wide water crisis.
  

Every Sunday, Aabid Surti, an award-winning Indian author, goes door to door to correct leaky taps in the Mumbai suburbs of Mira road, his neighborhood.

He goes around asking if there are any leaks that can be fitted. "We are offering free plumbing service, Is there any leakage in your bathroom, toilet, or kitchen," asks Aabid Surti. The activity takes him a couple of hours, but it could save litres of water, something the country is short of.

The octogenarian is much better known for many of his other vocations. He wears many hats of author, painter, cartoonist, and a screenplay writer. The additional feather is that of an environmentalist.

With the launch of “Sufi” Surti has written over 80 books till date along with seven plays. He was given President’s Award for his book named “Teesri Aankh’ in 1993.

Water Warrior

He is the city’s ‘Water Warrior’ and introduced a water conservation model in 2007 through his 'one-man' NGO, Drop Dead Foundation.

"Whenever I see a tap dripping, my heartbeats. I just get disturbed." And this choice came after he saw his mother’s struggles during his humble beginnings.

"I was brought up at the pavement, and I have seen my mother standing in the queue for long hours to get just a bucket full of water. I have seen people fighting over water," Surti says.

A mission to fix leaky faucets

Surti’s Drop Dead Foundation in 2007 is now funded by the government, Azim Premji, Amitabh Bachchan among others.

His crusade to save water started when he read somewhere that in one second if one drop falls then in a month, thousand litrs of water goes down the drain.

"Since I am a cartoonist, I could imagine somebody drowning 1000 bottles of Bisleri into drain,” he says.

Between 2007 and 2008, he visited 1,666 houses at Mira Road to fix over 500 leaky faucets and saved 4.14 million litres of water.

"We have conserved 20 million litres in ten years,” he said. His aim to target residential areas with middle-class or lower-middle-class people.

He is now inspiring more young crusaders like him, and his model is now a part of school book.
100 million suffering

India probably had the worst year in terms of monsoons, floods and water crisis. And more cities could suffer from lack of water for basic needs, just like Chennai did this year.

According to NITI Aayog, 21 major cities are expected to be devoid of groundwater by 2020,

As many as 100 million people in the country are already suffering from the nation-wide water crisis. And a small beginning to try and slow down this deep crisis is by saving whatever little we have--one tap at a time.

According to a survey, "A dripping tap can waste 20,000 litres of water in a year".

Surti wishes what he started would spread across the country and the world and become a global movement.

See also:
Five years on, India may not even get a chance to solve its on-going water crisis risking hundreds of millions of lives