WATER WATER EVERYWHERE

 From Sampath’s Desk

WATER WATER EVERYWHER, BUT NOT A DROP TO DRINK!

 

Many a drop make an ocean. Water water everywhere, but not a drop to drink! These axioms hold good for India where water management leaves much to be desired.  Most of the Indian rivers would be in spate during rainy seasons causing massive inundation as they meander through their course and finally confluence with sea without being used up. There would be intermittent vociferous rhetoric-raising for efficient water management, but ground reality suggests otherwise. 

 

Decades ago as a schoolboy I used to hear, during monsoon periods, news headlines, “Floods in Bihar, U.P., West Bengal, ……, etc.’ in the All India Radio (AIR) news bulletins and could see in newspapers pictures portraying the sufferings and ordeals of people due to floods. One could also see it in the documentary films produced by Government of India Films Division and screened in theatres before starting the feature film. This was a regular post-monsoon scenario then. TVs and the social media have also joined in doing this service now.

 

Years have rolled by, but the scene perhaps remains the same even after more than seven decades after we attained independence, the only difference being while the news bulletins on the catastrophic news items were in black and white then, now it is in picturesque colour. Now, once it is monsoon season, whenever Television is switched on, we could see snippets and excerpts of heavy rains battering and resultant devastating floods causing extensive damage in one part of the country or another. While the death toll of humans has been considerably reduced due to effective steps taken, the havoc wreaked by the floods causing damage to property and devastating the public spaces, properties and facilities continue unabated during both Southwest monsoon and Northeast monsoon. Northeastern region would get the heaviest rainfall. In fact, India has the distinction of having the wettest place in the world in Mawsynram, Meghalaya with an annual average rainfall of 11837 mm. With flooding ensuing rains, besides scores of people being rendered homeless, they would also go starving without food and healthcare for days together.  Water-borne diseases and epidemics raising its ugly head can’t be ruled out.

 

In a sub-continental country like India, while some parts would reel under floods, some others would face drought and languish without water. Year after year we helplessly watch excess water flowing through the rivers and other water channels and finally converge with sea. We have not been able to manage our water resources effectively and efficiently, and rationally share it while it is in abundance. Rather, we are keen on wrangling over sharing only when there is monsoon failure(s) and the resultant water scarcity. Merger of rivers was mooted long back and widely talked of but it is yet to see the light of the day. The issue would crop up at times only to be put in back-burner every time. It is high time the Centre takes initiatives and make investments in joining rivers of the country for twin advantages of (1) better water management and supply in all parts of the country and (2) prevention of national disasters like floods and the adverse consequences thereof. In addition to Rain Water Harvesting by every household, we need to create a number of dams and lakes to store water.

 

Today we make a tall talk of converting seawater into drinking water. But it is paradoxical that we magnanimously allow copious water flows from perennial rivers of the North and monsoon induced spate in South rivers to join the sea and thereafter we leisurely think of converting that brackish and metallic seawater into drinking water! Free water made water produced at a cost! Doesn’t it look like taking the Lion by its tail but not by its mane which we ought to?

 

The great Indian National Revolutionary bard Subramania Bharathi, while celebrating and adoring India’s ‘Unity in Diversity’ called for joining of rivers. To quote him, ‘Let us carry out agricultural operations in the peninsular and central plains of India by diverting excess water from elsewhere when it is abundant and use it up which otherwise would cause floods and finally merge in vain with the sea. Had this visionary’s dream been taken up seriously and on top priority and carried out, water scarcity would have by now become a thing of the past. It is worth accomplishing such a venture considering the prime importance of water resources management. Joining of rivers reverberating national unity is the best solution for sharing precious water resources and to avert loss and damage to person and property due to floods. Why search for ghee with butter on hand? Better late than never!

 

R.SAMPATH