Some parts of India today suffer double blows from nature. One is of intense heat and the other is of acute shortage of drinking water. Capital city Delhi and silicon city Bangalore are affected the most by the above natural whammies. Last week, some parts of national capital like Mangueshpur recorded a maximum temperature of 52.30c. Climate change seems to be one major cause of this. The Delhi Government has announced rationing of water in the Union territory.
Compared to their rural counterparts, Urban residents are very badly hit by the scarcity of drinking water. This is because huge population, unbridled building activities and the unending growth of Industrial Establishments in cities demand more and more water day by day. It is to be noted that among the water stressed countries, India ranks 13th in the World.
Chennai city is the capital of the State of Tamil Nadu. It is called the gate way of South India. This metropolis received a tag of ‘Day Zero’ on 19th June 2019. Day Zero refers to the critical point at which a city’s water supply is predicted to be nearly completely depleted leaving taps dry and communities in crisis. On the above mentioned day, the 11 million strong residents of Chennai went without drinking water as all the four water reservoirs there dried up completely. We all know that Cape Town, a city in South Africa famously faced the threat of Day Zero in 2018 due to years of drought and unsustainable water consumption. Now cities in India like Delhi, Bengaluru, Jaipur and Shimla are at high risk of facing the threat of Day Zero.
In addition, the uncontrolled building activities in cities destroy many natural resources of water. To illustrate in 2022, the Karnataka Government told the State assembly that forty lakes in Bangalore had disappeared !
In Goa, there are hundreds of lakes across the region. If we clear up and clean them then our State would be self-contained as regards drinking water.
After air, man requires water to keep himself alive. Noted American thinker W H Auden says, “Thousands have lived without love, not one without water”. The great poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge vividly describes the flight of thirsty persons in his well known epic poem, “The Rime of Ancient Mariner”.
A seaman lost his way in the middle of the Sea. For days and nights together his ship got stuck in the ocean. The stock of food and drinking water was finished. The seaman and his fellow sailors squirmed for want of drinking water. They could see the water all around them but there was not a single drop to drink. The poet writes, “Water, Water everywhere and not a single drop to drink”!
On the heels of its Day zero, Chennai became the first Indian city to recycle the waste water for the required amount to solve the problem. Recycling lifts the pressure on fresh water resources. This treated water can be used for agricultural and industrial purpose. It can also be used for flushing toilets, washing clothes or watering gardens. At present recycling seems to be the only best solution on scarcity of drinking water.
