Sunday, March 3, 2013

Dried concrete jungles

The elixir of all life is fast moving to achieve rare commodity status in urban India with water tables going down due to massive rise in consumption, severe pollution of surface and ground water resources and slow pace of setting up rain water harvesting projects. It is high time a modern consumption based tariff policy and other initiatives are taken by the center to promote effective water management in urban India

Their origins can be traced to the early medieval period post the fall of the Kushan empire and the name’s first ever mention was in the Mahabharata. They were immortalized in Indian history post their 1669 uprising against the Mughals. In 21st century India, their claim to fame on one hand is bolstered by the maximum no. of crorepatis they have produced in a single state in India and the infamous back to the medieval ages “khap panchayats” legitimizing the insanity called honour killing. But for all the fame, the thing for which the Jats of India least get reported is their united stand on issues that concern every citizen. Yet another display of their strength and clout was on display when in the Tonk and Ajmer districts of Rajasthan, large gatherings of Jat farmers staged a two day protest against beginning a massive boring operation to extract the remaining water in the cachement areas of Banas river. The reason? Bisalpur dam, the chief water resource for the cities of Jaipur and Ajmer, has all but dried up with one of the worst ever monsoon delays in decades in the state’s history. The Jats oppose the move on account ofthe cachement area being the only resource for drinking and irrigation. Are these the first signs of the water wars’ prophecy? With urban India sliding into an unprecedented perennial water crisis, it might just come true.

The annual per capita availability of renewable freshwater in India has fallen from 5,277 cubic meters in 1955 to 1730 cubic meters presently. Given the projected increase in population by the year 2025, the per capita availability is likely to drop to below 1,000 cubic meters i.e., to levels of water scarcity. According to a study done in 2008 in 7 of the 15 most populated cities of India including Delhi, Kolkata and Mumbai, average domestic water consumption was 92 litres per capita per day (lcpd), while those in Amsterdam (156 lcpd), Singapore (162 lcpd), Hong Kong (203 lcpd), Sydney (254 lcpd) and Tokyo (268 lcpd) are much higher. With mass immigration making our cities akin to clogged potholes and rampant unplanned industrialization causing billions of tonnes of toxic waste being dumped in our surface and ground water resources, supplying fresh water to residents is a Herculean task. As per the study (see table), on an average, some of the most populated metros receive water once or twice in a whole day for a few hours with the frequency falling to once in 2 days cases in select regions.


Source : IIPM Editorial, 2012.
An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri
and Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).

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