New Delhi: Riots erupt in Madhya Pradesh over it. Whole familes are slain for it. Armed security convoys have been hired to protect it. But in spite of having government policies and targets in place to provide water for all its households, India is rapidly running out of the precious resource. The coverage of people who have access to water in their home has dropped at a startling rate—from 95% rural coverage in 2005 to only 67 today according to Bharat Nirman programme data. Richard Mahapatra, the national coordinator of WaterAid India, an NGO that works with drinking water and sanitation, says, “Ideally India should have covered all villages with drinking water provisions but nobody took note of it.” Now, the government has set a fifth deadline of 2012 for universal rural water supply. “It is anybody’s guess whether we would make it to that,” says Mahapatra.
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The worst that could happen: Already on a dangerous path to becoming a water-stressed country, India now has three times less per capita water availability than in 1955. “India made a perilous switch over to groundwater from a mix of both surface and groundwater in the 1960s,” says Mahapatra. Today 90% of our water needs are met through groundwater sources, half of which are woefully over-exploited. Unmanaged urban water supply utilities too are reeling under crumbling infrastructure and burgeoning demand. Without serious reform India’s water demand will go through the roof
On guard: Police monitor water distribution in Bhopal to avoid a riot breaking out over the limited supply. Hindustan Times
while supply trickles to a drop. This won’t just mean everyone goes a little thirsty. Some social scientists predict battles, far worse than the water riots, to break out over the control of clean water access points. It took James Bond himself to save rural Bolivia’s water supply in
Quantum of Solace by crushing a global conspiracy.
The best we can do: Simple steps such as rainwater harvesting for all buildings can push down demand drastically. The Delhi state government has already mandated rainwater harvesting for large housing complexes, but this needs to be required for single homes and older buildings as well. Also, a huge amount of water is lost simply due to spills and leaks. Average distribution loss ranges from 20-30%. Simply plugging the holes in the supply chain would be a huge step in the right direction.
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