At present, India is facing the worst-ever water crisis with over 600 million people - nearly half the country’s population - suffering from extreme water stress according to a report by NITI Aayog. It also claims that 75 percent of Indian households do not have clean drinking water and 84 percent of rural households do not have access to safe piped water.
India ranks 120 out of 122 countries on the water quality index since 70 percent of its water is contaminated, which is causing the death of two lakh people each year.
Although depletion of water resources is a major issue, flushing toilets is not typically recognised as a cause. But, each flush uses at least 1.6 litres of water according to Conserve H2O, a Water Providers Consortium. The Ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation recently stated that 89 percent (107 crore) of the Indian population has access to toilets. Considering that an average individual uses the toilet seven times a day, we’re flushing out a whopping 118 crore litres of water on a daily basis.