“We forget that the water cycle and the life cycle are one” – Jacques Yves Cousteau
Life exists wherever there is water and that is why water is often referred to as the source of all life. Unfortunately today this source from which all life originates is becoming scarcer by the day.
By 2030, the gap between the global demand and supplies of fresh water is expected to reach 40%. A global water crisis threatens our future. All this because we have taken water for granted for a long time.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) has predicted that by 2025 half of the world’s population will live in areas with permanent water scarcity. The reason that WHO attributes for this disturbing state of affairs is the result of increasing demand for water, reduction of water resources, and increasing pollution of water, driven by dramatic population and economic growth. Availability of clean drinking water on a regular and sustained basis has always been an issue in both globally as well as locally. In the context of serious environmental concerns, the world water conference was held after 50 years less than a month ago.
Water scarcity is a major issue in today’s world of 7.7 billion people. As population increases the strain on the water system automatically grows. Increasing water demand follows population growth, economic development and changing consumption patterns. Although two thirds of our planet is water, we face an acute water shortage. The water crisis is the most pervasive, most severe, and most invisible of the ecological devastation of the earth. Maybe this is what the future will look like: fresh clean water will be so rare it will be guarded by armies. Water as the next oil – the next resource worth going to war over. Several wells in Goa especially in the villages have gone dry. Thanks to the blatant drawing/selling of water by the Water Mafia of Goa that has been increasing in leaps and bounds.
If there is magic on this planet, it is contained in water. People do not realise that water in the liquid state is very rare in this universe. Away from this earth, it is usually in gas form. To a thirsty man, a drop of water is worth much more than a bag of gold or diamonds. Since times immemorial people who inhabited this earth have always equated water with healing and energy. Water as we all know purifies. Till this day, people travel great distances to drink or bathe in water from mountains, wells and springs that are imbued with special energy.
Water is the driving force of all nature. With the drying up of wells people have now begun to realise the worth of water. Two years ago, the Indian government’s water ministry declared Goa to be the first state in the country with 100% piped water supply? Does every household in Goa have access to water at their doorstep as claimed by our present Chief Minister? India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi has been saying “Goa has become the first ‘Har Ghar Jal’ certified state in the country where every household is connected to piped water”. The state’s own government record shows that Goa is short on water supply by 85 million litres per day. Bardez Taluka has always had a perennial shortage of water. If one is lucky to be receiving clean and treated public water for a short while during the day, the misery is that one is never sure about the time when the water will flow through ones tap. Consider yourself lucky if you get water for a limited period of time every alternate day. Everyone in Goa is familiar with the sight of trenches being dug with excavators for laying underground cables. Contractors often burst water pipelines that distribute water. Residents are left high and dry for long periods of time.
The Public Works Department (PWD) of Goa has paid little or no attention to the deteriorating water supply conditions in the state. This is one department that houses a large number of daily wage and temporary workers on its rolls who have been in service for several years. While some people in Goa complain of no pipes being laid in their neighbourhood, others grumble about having poor or no water supply despite the pipes being laid out. Receiving public water 24×7 is a far cry in many areas of Goa. Receiving piped water has remained a dream. Drinking water in Goa comes primarily from seven water treatment plants – Opa, Asonora, Sanquelim, Selaulim, Canacona, Dabose and Chandel. Power outages, old pipes, mal-functioning motors, and less capacity are some of the problems these water treatment plants face. Rivers in Goa are a major source of potable water. We need to protect our rivers if we are to save Goa’s eco-system.
We owe it to our children, and our children’s children to preserve the world we inhabit, including its water systems. Water seems so widely abundant that we feel it could never be depleted. And yet it can be, and will be, if we do not take a responsible approach to water. Water is our life. If we destroy the water sources in the country, we have destroyed the future generation. The time to take sustainable action is now not later. There are a number of ways to save water and they all start with us at an individual level.
(The writer is a social scientist and a senior practicing criminal lawyer)
