India’s Water Crisis

Isn’t it ironic that our media covers everything from celebrity birthdays to haunted temples but can’t educate the population about an impending water crisis?

Most of the Indian population does not understand the gravity of the situation, but yes the water crisis is real and it has already affected several metropolitan cities. Chennai is out of piped water whereas Tamil Nadu and 21 other major cities are facing the unfortunate situation of “Day Zero” which has arisen due to the failure of municipal corporations to fulfill daily water demands.

Chennai, with a population of 8 million, majorly depends on monsoons for replenishing its water sources. However, due to declining rainfall water reservoirs have drastically depleted over the years. This year the city didn’t receive rainfall for 200 days consequently, four of the city’s major water reservoirs have dried up. Soaring temperatures and the inability of the government to supply water to the villages have made rural life awful. You can imagine rural women standing in long queues with big buckets to fill water from what meager water source is available to them.

The Modi government has promised piped water for all Indians by 2024 however, many Indians aren’t still convinced and are skeptical of the claim. Considering the declining monsoon pattern and the high pollution levels of Indian rivers water supply is scarce and hence, the skepticism is justified. The government is also implementing desalination plants in Chennai, these plants may have short term benefits but their long term effects will probably have a ruinous effect on the environment. For instance, these desalination plants require a huge amount of energy to run which would ultimately skyrocket the already high industrial energy demands in India. The brine which these plants would give out as a by-product will degrade the Indian coastlines even further. The government seems to have totally ignored these terrible consequences.

However, to every cloud there is a silver lining and this situation has also proven to be beneficial for various rural households. Due to scarce water supply villages all across India have been forced to revive traditional freshwater sources like wells and johads. Villagers have started to construct rainwater harvesting systems which have immensely helped with to increase agricultural output and soil fertility and most importantly these efforts have temporarily solved the problem of unemployment in many villages.

It is critical to understand the magnitude of this crisis. Factors like the inefficiency of the government, lack of awareness, negligence of the media are indeed worsening the situation. It is high time that the government takes action, urges its citizens to start taking individual steps towards conservation because after all it’s not the hyperbolized claims of the government that will solve the problem but it’s our collective efforts that indeed will.