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Averting a water crisis

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s advice to the States last week to take serious note of the growing water crisis has served to underline the low priority accorded over the past six decades to an issue of fundamental importance. The norms adopted by India to assess protected water supply coverage — 40 litres per capita daily (lpcd) within a 1.6 kilometre radius — fall short of the World Health Organisation’s recommendation of 50 lpcd at the consumer e nd to be counted as intermediate level access. Further, there are major quality problems caused by biological and chemical contamination. Dr. Manmohan Singh’s call for accelerated work on water and sanitation in the rural sector in partnership with the community is timely and relevant to urban areas as well. The States cannot afford to neglect this agenda any longer if they wish to protect valuable water sources from continued degradation. Wetlands and rivers are being polluted by industrial chemicals and domestic sewage. It is illogical to treat such a colossal loss as the inevitable consequence of economic activity because it threatens long-term prosperity. The traditional base of surface water sources has been rendered weak, encouraging indiscriminate groundwater extraction, while new ones are not being created. One well-studied example of this trend is Bangalore, which now has only 14 live lakes out of 51 in the 1970s. Water bodies outside many cities are tragically being turned into sewage ponds because sewerage infrastructure does not match the pace of urbanisation.

Water and sanitation have a direct linkage with health, which is a human right recognised under international covenants. Although there have been national-level missions on drinking water, Dr. Singh has acknowledged the general failure of governments to achieve targets for expanding access. State governments should worry that the flagship programme, Bharat Nirman, is losing ground as thousands of habitations listed as having water access slide back to “partly covered” or “not covered” status. This is happening because the sources dry up or are polluted, have weak technical systems, and are poorly maintained. To advance sustainability goals, the States have to involve communities in legally protecting water bodies from encroachment and degradation, develop new sources such as lakes and reservoirs, and take immediate action to curb industrial and fertiliser pollution. Such plans can improve the national record of per capita water storage of 200 litres, which is far lower than in countries like China and South Africa. But water must first become a genuine political priority.

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