Water Crisis



2nd June, 2009 — one of the headlines in The Hindu read “Water squabbles claim one more life.” From where will the water come for drinking, bathing, cooking, etc if there is no water left fit for that? How will the government manage to provide for the basic water needs of its citizens when there will be no clean water left? We all know very well that water pollution is decreasing our chances of survival on quotidian basis, that paucity of water is going to affect us the hardest, that its already too late to start making amends for our wrongs, and still the authorities are busy in their slumber snores to do something to check the rapid rate of water pollution.

River Yamuna is the primary source of water for Delhiites and still the speed of its pollution is not ceasing. A report on the pollution of the river showed that the effluents flowing into the river Yamuna comprise of municipal and industrial wastes mainly. The low self-purification capacity of the river Yamuna is due to the want of minimum flow in the river and discharge of heavy municipal and industrial pollution load emanating from Delhi. Even though Delhi constitutes only 2% of the catchments of the Yamuna basin, yet the area contributes about 80% of the pollution load. There are 16 drains which discharge treated and untreated waste water/sewage into the Yamuna. The municipal sector is the main source of water pollution in terms of volume. Approximately 1,900 mld of waste water is discharged from the municipal sector and 320 mld from the industrial sector. The installed capacity for treatment is 1,270 mld. At the same time, the existing capacity for treatment is not up to the desired secondary treatment level. Thus, substantial quantity of untreated sewage and partially treated sewage is discharged into the Yamuna every day. Shocked?

What is the government waiting for-some miracle or some foreign force to come and rescue us? But that too would be able to do nothing as the crime is taking place with the permission of the care takers of the country.

Apart from this serious problem of pollution, the government is also being nonchalant about the wastage of water being done everyday, everywhere and in huge quantities. Time once gone never comes back, and the same can be applied on water as water once wasted can never be obtained in the same pure form again. Though water will be available, but for that the available options would be either purchasing a bottle of water @Rs.60 per water bottle, which could have been obtained for free if taken care of or using the polluted water from the municipal corporation, or the best -going without any water at all!!

The time is ripe and pressing this grave issue of managing water, because THE SOONER IS THE BETTER, and otherwise the THINGS WOULD TAKE AN OBNOXIOUS TURN which will be unmanageable. The future is bleak and dark and the shadows would engulf us until and unless, the government comes into action.

Therefore, PRAHAR has some simple options to make a difference, which the authorities can pay heed to. They are:

  • The government can issues laws stating that if anyone, any person or organization is found guilty of wasting water, then that person would be sentenced to some years of unpardonable punishment of being behind the bars, plus a fine of a huge amount of money will be slapped on them.
  • The government can make RAIN WATER HARVESTING mandatory to be present in the layout of the homes of the people and the organizations.
  • Municipal Corporation should be asked to stop pouring untreated waste in to the rivers and also the other industrial establishments.
  • The government can make bathing in rivers, or washing clothes and animals in the rivers, punishable by law.
  • Water pollution should be made punishable by law with a very rigorous sentence such that people can’t even dream of doing it.
  • Government can also try and spread awareness to make the ignorant aware of the dark sides of this misdeed which people may not be very clear about.

And once this is done, we can expect to have water for a little longer than what we will have if the government does nothing about this grave issue.

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