The substance called water ...

Water is the essence of life. Without water, life ends. Whether man, animal or plants, water is essential. Water is the simplest substance that keeps mankind alive.

Water has many uses. Washing, cooking, generate electricity etc.

After having a basketball game this afternoon, I realised my hands were dirty and being me, I always needed to be clean - especially the hands.

I decided to take a bottle of mineral water to clean my hands, to rid off the dirt that had clearly blackened my palms and fingers. As I turned to uncap the bottle, a picture flashed in my mind. I saw photos of children in poverty - hungry and thirsty but had no food and water to fulfil their needs.

I felt ashamed of myself for wanting to use a bottle of mineral water to cleanse my hands when the thoughts of children around the world have hardly anything to drink, let alone clean their bodies with the substance called water.

Living in Singapore, we never had any shortage of water at least for peers of my generation. What was water rationing? I never experienced it.Singaporeans living under the great care of our government only know the fact that Singapore is self-sufficient after the success of Newater - water that went through reclamation process using multiple barriers of Reverse Osmosis, a widely recognised and reliable technology used extensively in Space missions.

Despite the fact that we are self-sufficient, this does not mean that we should take water for granted. We should learn to cherish it and not waste it. Therefore the next time you decide to wash your hands with mineral water, better think twice like I did. Save water.