Water Crisis In India

Global Warming. This word is in every science textbook of each grade. We have learnt from very early classes, that the Earth is changing, the ozone layer is depleting and so on. But the effects were still not visible. Everything was going smoothly on the outside, but the cracks beneath the surface were widening. This year the surface has been breached.

Each year we have heard news of drought in some village in Maharashtra, and suicide of farmers as a result of that. Politicians have blamed each other. They have focussed on loan waiver rather than going towards the root of the problem. The logical step would have been to take some measures for water conservation, but alas, politics is far from being logical. So, what has changed this year? Why there has been a sudden increase in the stress for water?

Well, the problem has reached urban centres now. Chennai is suffering from one of the most panicking water crisis. The reservoirs are dry. There is not enough drinking water. Bengaluru is not far behind, and neither are Delhi and Hyderabad. So, when the problems reach the city, to the social media using population, only then the panic button is pressed. Not when the farmers, on whom the city populations depend are in problem. Told you, there is no logic in politics.

The worse part is that Chennai suffered from a flood in 2015. Around 1.8 million people were displaced. The country's economy received a three billion dollar jolt. The administration was found sleeping. They took no steps towards either rainwater harvesting or towards proper drainage. Four years after the flood, there is a drought. The administration is still sleeping.

The population is termed as the principal cause of every issue in India. So. it's natural to assume that it is the cause of water shortage. More people, more mouths need water and hence more shortage. It seems right too. But it's not. India needs 3,000 billion cubic metres of water every year. That amount of water is sufficient for every Indian water requirements. Guess what; we receive 4,000 billion cubic metres of rain every year. Well, you don't care about what you have.

We only store about eight per cent of the rainwater we receive. We can blame the government for some of it, but not all of it. Very few households have rainwater harvesting. It's our job to do it. But instead of replenishing groundwater, we started using more of it. We kept pulling out water until there was nothing left. It turns out we are not logical either.

It's high time we start doing something about water. Climate change is real; it's always has been. We weren't able to feel the effects for some time, but now it's out in the open. There is no sugar coating to this issue. We have to save water otherwise we perish. We are genuinely in the endgame now.