Have you tried ‘cutting pani’ yet?

A poster of the Cutting Pani campaign.

From reducing wastage in everyday water use to fixing leaking taps, a team of youngsters in Belagavi have devised innovative ways to ensure judicious use of water, and have won national recognition for their efforts.

Inspired by a few restaurants in Pune, which serve half a glass of water in the summer, water enthusiast Mandar Kolhapure launched the campaign ‘Cutting Pani’ in Belagavi. His friends and like-minded people supported him.

The thought came to him when he observed that most hotels serve a glass full of water as soon as a customer is seated. Most of the time, people barely have a sip of water and what remains in the glass is wasted.

“Most people have a ‘cutting’ chai, where they share a cup of tea. Then why is water wasted? Just because it is available for free?” asks Mandar.

Mandar then got some stickers made but most hotels were reluctant to take part in the campaign. Most of the staff equated constantly refilling the glass of water with good service. When served half a glass of water, customers felt it was used by someone else.

But the idea gradually gained traction and customers who saw the posters asked the hotels to adhere to it.

Mandar says many hotels in the city have now stopped serving water in glasses and have made coolers available or serve water bottles.

Cutting Pani was one of the winners of the ‘Water Heroes campaign’ organised by the Department of Water Resources,Government of India for the month of October 2020.

The team also took the campaign further and posted photos of anonymous people washing their cars with running water meant for drinking.

Slowly, the people in the city have come to realise they are not entitled to waste running water, which is a precious resource.

Now, the team is working on another campaign called ‘Stop the Drop’ which addresses the need to repair leaking taps and pipes.

With a sponsor on board, the team moves around the city fixing leakages, thereby saving precious water.

Mandar says that there are also plans to have short videos, selfie points at hotels and a popular hashtag ‘cutting pani’ to spread the message of water conservation.