A WOMAN has turned the ice bucket challenge on its head, by pledging to survive on a single bucket of water each day for a week.

Christina Ravinet, 26, returned to her home in Belfairs Drive, Leigh, after a ten-week charity trip to Tanzania with a fresh perspective on water, after living in a village where people walk more than two hours every day to collect less than 20 litres.

By contrast average water consumption in the UK is 163 litres per person and most people use about 18 litres when pouring iced water over their heads for the ice bucket challenge.

The craze, which has spread rapidly across the UK, began as a dare, with an option to avoid it by donating to the Motor Neurone Disease Association, though many now do both. But Christina, who hasamasters’ degree in ecology from Imperial College London, said watching so much water being wasted, after living in an area where it was a precious commodity, made her want to set her own challenge.

For five days next week she will be living on no more than ten litres of water a day for drinking, cooking, washing, cleaning and even using the toilet.

She said: “I’ve been meaning to do my own challenge for a while now and it seemed fitting with the ice bucket challenge being everywhere, because it kind of puts it into perspective.

“Being brought up in western society, you don’t really think about the amount of water you use and, even though I’m from an environmentally conscious background, it’s not until you see people having to walk to collect water every single day and live without running water that you realise how lucky you are.

“That was the biggest thing that struck me when I got home and I decided I was going to be more conscious of how much water I used, but you very quickly slip back into old habits.”

The greatest hurdle she said she will face during her challenge between Monday and Friday will be going to the toilet, as the average flush uses about four litres of water each time.

“It’s going to be hard but I want to encourage people to make a positive change, even if it’s just shaving two minutes off the time they spend in the shower.”