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Water Scarcity: Dark Shadow Looms over India
Gobind Thukral

Nature’s bounty knows no bounds. Water, air and sunshine are all a plenty as other resources. Man too as an inventor nearly rivals nature.  Science and technology have given enough tools that these sources are exploited to meet the needs of not only human beings, but of the plant and animals life. Yet look around and people are routinely denied these basic necessities. For example there is enough water for everyone on earth, yet 1.1 billion [110 crore] people have no access to safe drinking water. As many as 2.6 billion lack basic sanitation and millions living in slums suffer the worst than their primitive forefathers.  One out of five people on earth lacks access to clean water, four out of 10 have no basic sanitation, and more than three million people died in 2002 of water-related illnesses, many of them children under five in Africa and Asia. People live longer lives in the west compared to Asia and Africa as they get clean water, good public health facilities and a clean environment.

These problems if we go by the latest United Nations World Water Development Report are attributed to mismanagement, corruption, bureaucratic inertia and lack of investment. Safe drinking water, sanitation and public health care alone could every year save some 1.7 million lives.  This report prepared by 24 U.N. agencies was presented in Mexico last week at the World Water Forum that had drawn thousands of government, business and civil society delegates. It focused on the problem of sharing water in an equitable manner and concluded that the sustainability of ecosystems is more a question of governance and less of resources.  To talk about lack of water is to talk about poverty, and attempts to improve distribution must involve efforts to tackle poverty. This is one way. Another is to bring an end to the senseless exploitation of ground water, overuse of chemicals and pesticides and involve communities in conservation of water resources and management.

Even though there is plenty of water for everyone, distribution is also hindered by the imbalances between availability of water and population density. Asia is home to 60 percent of the global population, but only 36 percent of the earth’s water resources, while South America accounts for just six percent of the population and 26 percent of water resources. Furthermore, as much as 30 to 40 percent of piped water "goes unaccounted for," through leakages and illegal connections, the report emphasised.

The study brought out distressing facts that total official development assistance to the water sector in the past few years has averaged $3.0 billion a year, with an additional $1.5 billion in loans, mainly from the World Bank. But only 12 percent of that reached the most vulnerable, and a mere 10 percent went towards the development of water policy, planning and programmes.

Officials claim around 90% of India's population has access to drinking water, but people who work at improving the water supply say only just over half the country can count on its water being safe and constantly available. Whether it is the mighty Ganges, India’s most sacred river or the tiny seasonal rivulet Buddha Nala of Ludhiana, we have polluted all. World Bank estimates that 21% of communicable diseases in India are related to unsafe water. In India, diarrhoea alone causes more than 2,000 deaths each day, worst than Aids.

There are two basic issues: contamination of water and its exhaustion. India has a dubious record of failure on both. A recent government survey tells us 15 per cent of 5,723 blocks are over exploited. In other words where more water is withdrawn than recharged. Four per cent are critical and 10 percent semi critical. A good part of Punjab falls in this category where out of 138 blocks, 108 are in the dark zone indicating serious water shortage and pollution, four in the gray, a little less exploited and only five are white where water is good. Punjab is using up to 145 per cent its ground water resources. In fact Jalandhar and Kapurthala districts are mining water up to 254 and 204 per cent respectively. Wheat- paddy cycle and senseless use of chemicals, besides over exploitation through lakhs of tube wells have done the damage.

We all know in India as well as in Pakistan how rich farmers bribe officials in order to monopolise water supplies, leaving the poor without water. Local authorities bribe to falsify meter readings. While official apathy in managing this scarce source is understandable, the public too shows scant regard and wastes this valuable source. China and India account for more than half of the 2.6 billion people around the world - nearly two-fifths of the global population - who lack basic sanitation. Experts warn Delhi could even run out of water within 25 years if strict conservation measures are not brought in soon.

Over one-third of the population of south Asia has access to sanitation. And in sub-Saharan Africa, coverage stands at just 36 percent, the U.N. report highlighted. Hygiene practices also continue to be a problem in India. Latrine usage is extremely poor in rural areas of the country; only 14% of the rural population has access to a latrine. Hand washing is also very low, causing sickness. Everyone knows how industrial waste is polluting water sources and the corrupt and inefficient politicians and officials would not let this be stopped.  For the past over 25 years, some sensible members of Punjab assembly have pressed hard to stop the pollution by chemical factories, sugar and paper mills. Yet nothing much has emerged. Public interest litigation too has been of little help. Water crisis is largely a result of problems like the impunity surrounding pollution, corruption and other illegal practices. The entire water system is under grave threat. Punjab’s rivers, rivulets, wetlands, village ponds and reservoirs are either vanishing or have been polluted. They face a big challenge, both from contamination and exhaustion. Pesticides have polluted groundwater aquifers and over exploitation have turned the land into a huge wasteland.

In Mexico where the waster issue was hotly debated as a basic right of civil society, activists took a dim view of this international event, as they believed it would promote the privatisation of water resources.  A parallel civil society gathering that drew 15,000 participants declared that water, as a public resource must be universally available. Environmentalists, youth groups, women's organisations, and even a number of government delegates from 121 countries questioned the mechanisms for managing this precious source for life. At the rallies in Defence of Water, they were unwavering in their opposition to any form of privatisation of water services.

Remember demonstrations in Delhi against privatisation of this elixir of life. There is a global consensus that water is a public good that must reach everyone.  Right to access to water must be unequivocally viewed as one of the most basic human rights. Pollution and over use besides commodification of water are a real threat. Bottled water is not the answer.  The community as a whole, as several water management volunteers have shown, has to act in unison. The capacity to meet the steadily growing demand for water will depend on "good governance" and management of available resources keeping in mind that water usage has increased six fold in the 20th century, twice the rate of population growth.