Mismanagement of water resources

The United Nations designated 2003 as the year of fresh water. There is some grim irony in the huffing and puffing over the impact of the climate change and the danger of carbon emission because we don’t pay serious attention to environmental issues until consequences are felt to be too grave to ignore attention. But the warning by the National Centre for Atmospheric Research in Colorado, USA — based on research carried out on the water flow of 925 major rivers from 1948 to 2004 — that availability of fresh water could be severely compromised by climate change, is a serious enough prognostication to warrant the fear that future wars on earth are going to be waged over water.

Major sources of fresh water for much of the world’s population from the Yellow river in northern China to the Ganges in India to the Colorado river in the United States are in decline as researchers found an overall decline in the amount of water flowing into the world’s oceans. Human activities such as the building of dams and the diversion of water for agriculture have attributed largely to the reduction, though climate change was the biggest reason as rising temperatures were altering rainfall patterns and increasing rates of evaporation.

Much as the need to put a cap on the growing carbon emission is expedient, it is necessary to conserve water. Scientists say that 40 per cent of humanity living in South Asia and China could well be living with little drinking water within 50 years as global warming melts Himalayan glaciers, the region’s main water source.

It is estimated that 1.3 billion persons in the world don’t have access to safe drinking water and some 2.4 billion are denied sanitation and this kills 6,000 people daily. Increasing privatisation of water services in countries like India is leading to growing disparity of access to safe water. The water industry in India is growing at an estimate rate of 25 per cent now. According to ‘The Economist’, five big food and beverage companies: Nestle, Unilever, Coca-Cola, Anheuser-Busch and Danone, consume almost 575 billion litres of water annually, enough to meet the daily water needs of every person on the planet.

The per capita water availability in India is projected to decline to about 1,140 cubic metres per year in 2050 from 1,820 cubic metres per year (in 2001), the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has stated in a report last year. India’s demand for water is growing. It is expected to overtake China’s by 2050 when it reaches a staggering 1.6 billion, putting immense strain on its water resources. A rapidly growing economy and a large agricultural sector stretch India’s supply of water even thinner.

State’s role

Meanwhile, India’s supply of water is rapidly dwindling primarily due to mismanagement of water resources, although over-pumping and pollution are also significant contributors. The state has got a duty to protect ground water against excessive exploitation. It is often felt that the availability of cheap water to the agricultural sector has tended to encourage its pre-emption for a low value, high- volume use, and has encouraged its wasteful and profligate consumption.

The Supreme Court holds that the right to clean air and unpolluted water forms part of the right to life under Article 21 of the Constitution. But every third person deprived of clean water in the world is an Indian. About 86 per cent of all the diseases in the country are directly or indirectly related to the poor quality of drinking water, and 70 per cent of India’s water is polluted, according to a report by a non-governmental organisation, the Consumer Unity and Trust Society. In 2003, a World Water Development Report of the United Nations categorised India among countries with poor quality of water — India ranked 120 among 122 countries.

According to a World Bank report issued in 2005, India will face a severe water crisis in 20 years if the government doesn’t change its ways. By 2020, the report says, India’s demand for water will exceed all sources of supply. The report sharply takes India to task for lacking in proper water management system in place, while its groundwater is disappearing and river bodies are turning into makeshift sewers.
India receives an average of 4,000 billion cubic meters of rainfall every year. Unfortunately, only 48 per cent of rainfall ends up in India’s rivers. Due to lack of storage, only 18 per cent can be utilised. So can we really discount our part in the crisis?  Could water conservation have a chance with the new government?