K S S Pillai
The poet W H Auden said, "Thousands have lived without love, not one without water." He was repeating the truth that one could survive without food for months but only a few days without drinking water.
Water has become so valuable that World Water Day was observed recently under the auspices of the United Nations. The emphasis was on the sustainable management of freshwater resources to enable living beings to survive. Conserving water has become a life-and-death issue. Man's greed is the focal cause of air, earth, and water pollution.
Rivers flowed in the past as they were not restrained by dams. Some became flooded even in the summer with water from melted ice at their origin. Water was drunk directly from wells, rivers, and canals without ill effects. Aqua creatures, most of which ended up on the dining tables, were the source of livelihood for many.
Climate change has been worrying several people. Global heating has resulted in large-scale melting of glaciers, resulting in landslides that caused loss of lives and properties. As farmers complained of lack of water, and women and children lugged long distances carrying pots for water, dams were built in rivers, making them stagnant. The growing population encroached upon canals and rivers, making them narrow and home to water weeds. Buildings have come up on the banks of those water bodies. Fish and other living beings started disappearing. Drinking water without being purified mechanically or boiled became dangerous. It is high time we removed encroachments on water bodies and revived them.
Modern agriculture based on chemicals and untreated discharge from factories, houses, and every human habitation has worsened the situation. Water has become salty near the seas, making it unsuitable for drinking. People in the Gulf countries with deserts around have been using purified seawater from the nearby sea at enormous cost.
The extreme heat has resulted in excessive melting of glaciers, resulting in unseasonal floods and destruction. Many rivers that depended on melted glaciers are now shallow.
As water has become scarce, local governments have frequently increased the water charges. It has become the practice for many political parties to lure votes by offering free water in various quantities.
Rivers have become bones of contention between States within a country and also between nations, sometimes leading to armed conflicts. Seas have become dumping grounds for polluting materials, affecting sea animals.
Though we are fortunate to have a long and heavy rainy season, most of the rainwater flows away. Some governments have asked people to harvest rainwater for use, but few do so.
The government has tried to inculcate the habit of cleanliness by providing free toilets with water connections, but the water supply is often disrupted. When the supply is free, there is a wastage of water from faulty pipelines, but when people are required to pay, they avoid the wastage, and pipelines are repaired quickly.
The prime minister has taken steps to ensure that each house has pure drinking water through pipelines and that the toilets have water.
As Gandhiji said, we have no right to pollute water, as it is a loan from our children, not an inheritance.