Swatch Jal, Bharat aur Mein – An Insight into The Drinking Water Crisis in India
In India, the constitutional right to access clean drinking water can be drawn from the right to food, the right to a clean environment, and the right to health, all of which have been protected under the broad heading of the RIGHT TO LIFE, guaranteed under Article 21 of the Constitution.
India Today Magazine (March 2021) highlights the issue that more than 2,500 years ago when the Indus Valley Civilisation had reached its zenith; it mysteriously lost its effulgence and disappeared suddenly. Many archaeologists believe it was due to a catastrophic water scarcity caused either by shifting rivers or by drastic climate change that forced people to abandon city settlements. Ominously for India, history seems to be repeating itself.
A NITI Aayog report in 2018 stated bluntly that 600 million people, or nearly half of India’s population, face extreme water stress.
- That three-fourths of India’s rural households do not have piped, potable water and rely on sources that pose a serious health risk.
- That India has become the world’s largest extractor of groundwater, accounting for 25 percent of the total.
- That 70 percent of our sources are contaminated and our major rivers are dying because of pollution.
It means ‘India is suffering from the worst water crisis in its history.’ NITI Aayog also estimates that 21 major cities, including Delhi, would run out of groundwater by 2030. Unfortunately, from a report by a national news channel on ‘Rivers of India’ nearly 76 million people in India do not have access to safe drinking water, as polluted rivers and poor storage infrastructure over the years have created a water deficit that may become unmanageable in the future. This scenario is most common in our country, and the problem is exacerbated in rural areas where the residents resort to the collection of water from wells, ponds, springs, lakes, rivers and rainwater harvesting. The consumption of water from such unimproved sources without treatment constitutes a major public health risk due to the consumption of unsafe drinking water, and also to other environmental components such as fluoride, arsenic, lead, cadmium, nitrates, and mercury. Excessive consumption of these substances from contaminated drinking water can lead to cancer, dental and skeletal fluorosis, acute nausea, memory lapses, renal failure, anemia, stunted growth, fetal abnormalities, and skin rashes.
The importance of continuing the development of a safe water supply for humanity across the globe cannot be overstressed. Safe water is necessary for health and wellbeing and is a basic human right. Through my article, I have made a humble effort intending to move a proportion of water users from a position of wasting water to the ones who consume it efficiently. I have specified it as a “water conservation communication strategy” that includes brainstorming on issues of immediate concern like:
- Ignorance of the need to reduce water use
- Awareness of the need to reduce water use
- Interest in reducing water use
- Desire to take action to reduce water use
- Action to reduce water use.
Initially, there is a probability that the majority of individuals will be unaware of a real need to reduce water use. And quite possible that at different stages of engagement; those who already have interest or desire will not need much encouragement to move for action, while others will need a lot of persuading to move out of the “ignorance” stage.
When we discuss the issue in public, intention reflects clear that there is a willingness to modify individual water-using behavior for the sake of the environment, but this appears to be conditional upon the Government taking a strong lead, thereby emphasizing the national importance of the issue, adding credibility and urgency to any individual action. Therefore, it is important to have an approach of providing information to people about the seriousness of the issue and how they can contribute, but without any attempt to involve them before this, with an expectation that they will then act accordingly does not seem to work.
We don’t have to go overseas to see good examples of water resources management. The Maharashtra Water Resources Regulatory Authority, established under a World Bank project, is putting in place policies, regulations, institutions, and incentives that promote more efficient and more productive use of water, e.g., by ensuring the equitable distribution of water among users, and by establishing water tariffs. We all need clean drinking water. Otherwise, we have to recall Water! Water! Everywhere! But not a single drop to drink.
It is not easy to provide access to clean water at an affordable price; it requires that four major requirements be met: the existence of a source of sufficient quantity, adequate water quality for the intended purpose, a transmission network to a location proximal to usage clusters, and a pricing structure which reflects economic and social capacity. The increasing demand of maturing economies, increasing population, industrialization, and increasing standards of living in many regions of the world are all contributing factors to the current environment of water stress and shortage. At the same time, global fluctuations in climate and a growing imbalance of population distribution between rural and urban centers are adding to the logistical complexity of providing access to water where needed most.
The Ministry of Jal Shakti launched “Swajal” as a pilot project that targets about 0.5 million a year population in 117 aspirational districts across 28 states. This Programme has helped in prioritizing integrated water safety planning, behaviour change and community participation in most deprived aspirational districts, and contributed towards achieving 18.6 million people gaining access to safe drinking water.UNICEF is additionally, supporting the Ministry of Jal Shakti in strengthening the Swajal and the National Rural Drinking Water Programme(NRDWP) programme in 14 states. This contribution of UNICEF will be reaching about two million populations over four years.
For accessing clean and affordable water, measures such as watershed development, production, and protection; judicious water harvesting; and water conservation can be the predominant tools to meet the Millennium Development Goals, to meet the anticipated gaps in the demand-supply balance. A UNICEF report on water, sanitation and hygiene in India says that an estimate shows waterborne diseases have an economic burden of approximately USD 600 million a year in India. This is especially true for drought- and flood-prone areas, which affected a third of the nation in the past couple of years. Less than 50 per cent of the population in India has access to safely managed drinking water. Chemical contamination of water, mainly through fluoride and arsenic, is present in 1.96 million dwellings. Excess fluoride in India may be affecting tens of millions of people across 19 states, while equally worryingly, excess arsenic may affect up to 15 million people in West Bengal, according to the World Health Organization.
Moreover, two-thirds of India’s 718 districts are affected by extreme water depletion, and the current lack of planning for water safety and security is a major concern. One of the challenges is the fast rate of groundwater depletion in India, which is known as the world’s highest user of this source due to the proliferation of drilling over the past few decades. Groundwater from over 30 million access points supplies 85 per cent of drinking water in rural areas and 48 per cent of water requirements in urban areas. (Source: JMP 2017)
Therefore, measures like the interlinking of rivers, while keeping environmental considerations in mind, may be the answer to supplying water to dry regions, with the added benefit of harnessing water wasted in floods. But let’s not forget that it also makes economic sense to rejuvenate existing water bodies rather than just building more large dams to meet our needs. Estimates are that if we continue with business as usual, India will have only half the water it needs by 2030. At the most, Day Zero for a catastrophe is not a century but just a decade away. We need to act, and post-haste.
The first step to ensuring a safe drinking water supply is to prevent contamination from occurring which involves decreasing the amount of contamination entering the water stream and creating barriers to keep contamination from entering the water supply through improving sanitation practices and ensuring that the source water is of acceptable quality. In addition, drinking water should be properly stored and handled to ensure safety. Water treatment methods such as solar distillation, and membrane filtration utilizing techniques and materials that are affordable, and natural, and soil/aquifer filtration may be considered sustainable. Solar distillation can be practised in arid and desert places like the desert areas of Rajasthan and Gujarat, which are sinking further into a water crisis as the summer peaks where 13500 villages do not have access to drinking water.
Do you think that it is possible that the wettest place Cherapunji on earth ‘lacks water’? Yes! This seems to be the impression, until L LSorung, a teacher, confirms the truth that they get water anytime between 7 to10 in the morning and 5 to 6 in the evening. As a fact, water is being apportioned there because the landscape was extremely deforested and rain was incessant. The water never percolated into the ground and the topsoil was picked off by millions of runnels of water merely flowing away leaving Cherrapunjee as a bladed landscape. (Times of India)
According to the UNICEF ‘‘Handbook on Water Quality,’’ insufficient water supplies coupled with poor sanitation causes 3.4 million deaths per year, which translates into someone dying every 10 s. The majority of these deaths occur in children due to their higher susceptibility to catching diseases. Appropriate and sustainable technologies need to be developed to respond to this crucial need. Preventing contamination and implementing sustainable treatment technologies are ways to increase access to safe drinking water.
Today, faced with rising demands there is a pressing need, to engage the public on water conservation issues to avoid future environmental problems. Also, this is high time we understand and propagate the message that
- Water is not a free commodity
- Increasingly costly to provide
- There are over-abstracted sites resulting in environmental damage
- We have less water available per head of population
Awareness has to be created on a war foot basis and we need to pull together. Certain steps have already been taken by various agencies and water companies to have made a lot of progress in reducing leakage; also the Government has introduced new Water regulations to limit the water use of appliances. Still, it is our solemn duty to protect the environment by dispelling the various myths that reservoirs and desalination are unlikely to offer the best solution, environmentally or economically.
For a green tomorrow, I would like to focus your intellect on a vital issue that individual actions do make a difference. And there is a desire to save our natural environment from damage. Let us pledge to be a part of the campaign and move people from ignorance to awareness, interest, desire and action.
Dr. Tushti Sharma
Professor
Department of Arts and Social Sciences
Swami Vivekanand Subharti University, Meerut
