By Ravi Nitesh:
Governments and organizations celebrated again on the world water day; seminars and screenings were organized, schemes and policies were announced and path for the sustainable future became somewhat populous with the right approach and concerned people. Life cannot be imagined without water and that is why ‘water is life’ has become a popular phrase. Since the time of surplus water availability at almost all places , human community witnessed the scarcity in ground water findings and became worried from the continuous decreasing ground water. It is actually ground water that is to be used for drinking purpose. In spite of being a major part in the total proportion of earth (2/3rd) , water available for drinking purpose is very less (about 1% only).
We all know about the facts and ‘some’ of us also try to save water as much as we can. In Indian context, many things vary with latitude and longitude of the sub continent. Due to different geographical conditions, we must have to think about some region specific plans also. For example, water recycling may be a useful tool for over populous regions and with cities of high population density where ground water availability is less. Attention should be more towards the cities where pollutants can interact with water and in turn, contaminate it. For other cities, hilly areas and valleys, more attention should be towards protection of natural resources, water sources, trees and to maintain and protect overall flora and fauna.
On the primary level, the burning issues is increasing number of dams on rivers that in turn become responsible in reduction of water flow and improper availability and functioning of STPs installed to treat the raw materials collected from a city drain.
Though there is a need to look upon the policies, functioning and implementation, there are also various things that must get attention. For example, increase of real estate companies. During a TV session, an urban planner once said about Delhi that after a small rain, Delhi stuck in traffic jam as water overflows from drains on many roads and it is because all low lying areas where in past days water got accumulated from drains and roads, are now occupied with high rise buildings, offices etc.
During my another experience at a meeting at SPWD (Society for watershed promotion and development) , New Delhi , I came to know that the total waste quantity is higher than the STP capacity of Delhi, even after quality is not monitored on 24×7 pattern. Water experts there suggested the only solution of decentralized water recycling system. It is also unfortunate that these voices are not getting enough space in terms of policy making in spite of the fact that these voices are towards community welfare and therefore in turn only to benefit the governance and effective implementation of policies. Government must look towards suggestions given by water activists and experts who are working for community welfare and not just revenue.