Tremendous support is available from international aid organisations and NGOs on effective water management practices. The Government can access this to evolve a customised solution that can eventually benefit the people
Tof he promise of 700 litres clean water per day per house in Delhi by debutant Aam Aadmi Party has rightly ensured a raging debate on the practicality of the assurance. As electoral commitments collide with reality, the dimensions of the issue become clear. Delhi has approximately 11 million people. Assuming four persons per family and `5 to produce a kilolitre of water, it would require `94.5 lakh per day or `340 crore for a year to deliver on the promise.
But financial repercussions aside, the environmental implications are of far greater concern as scarce water resources coupled with inadequate supply infrastructure and inequitable water distribution present a grim picture. For instance, Delhi’s water supply is highly inequitable with New Delhi Municipal Corporation areas getting a major portion whereas several parts of the city have no water connection and no increase in supply is expected in the next few years. Add to this situation, much of the pipeline infrastructure is old, collapsing and needs to be changed. The same challenge exists across the country.
Populist promises and commitments that have a bearing on natural resources need to be qualified by a genuine concern for the environment. Political parties should be the first to display this concern and take steps to ensure that the environment is not compromised. Today, not a single city in India has 24-hour water supply. The authorities backed by political will should concentrate on planning of water supply as well. Water sourced from a longer distance tends to increase cost of supply. Additionally, ageing infrastructure in the form of leaking pipelines mean high distribution losses and less water to supply at the end of pipeline, which translates to precious water at high cost. The upshot of inefficient supply ensures that the cities are not able to recover costs of supply that in turn have a cascading effect leading to inability to invest in sewage infrastructure.
India’s population, rushing towards a staggering 1.6 billion by 2050 overtaking even China, is certain to put enormous strain and pressure on water resources. A rapidly growing economy and a large agricultural sector means an unimaginable stretch of India’s water resources and supply. A lack of cohesive planning and mismanagement of water resources means that the available supply of water is rapidly dwindling. The collateral damage due to this state of affairs can be resource shortage driven conflicts and hydel energy production.
A World Bank report titled, ‘India’s Water Economy: Bracing for a Turbulent Future’ states that, “Unless water management practices are changed — and changed soon — India will face a severe water crisis within the next two decades and will neither have the cash to build new infrastructure nor the water needed by its growing economy and rising population.”
The Government’s efforts should move beyond traditional resource conservation and maximisation efforts, such as rain water harvesting, to more scientific and in-depth measures that incorporates Best Management Practices for urban water resource management. These BMPs can aid in alleviating the plight of water stressed cities that are witnessing rapidly disappearing natural water bodies and an unsafe standard of available water.
The BMPs can help evolve effective planning, management and governance of available water resources and, therefore, avoid epic water resource scarcity in future. An intelligent combination of investment and technology can prove critical to sustainable water resource availability over a long term. Furthermore, the interconnected nature of water supply, sewage and sanitation cannot be ignored. Water recycling is inherent to improving water availability in an urban scenario.
As Governments change, the newly elected representatives have a rare opportunity to change the manner in which cities are run and resources used. Effective planning and execution may deliver even the most ambitious of goals. For successful water management and planning the aim should be to ensure better water service to citizens with an optimal and effective use of available water supply with less operating cost that does not compromise on water quality.
Globally tremendous support is available from international aid organisations and NGOs on effective water management practices. A plethora of path breaking examples have been set by many countries in achieving commendable water resource sustainability.
The Government can access these resources and evolve a customised solution for specific needs of the Indian scenario that can eventually benefit the people. In the future, an increasingly aware electorate will enthusiastically choose Governments that not only preserve the environment but also deliver pioneering solutions to everyday problems.
latedIJ huIJ IJress consent of the Ministry of External Affairs — which, of course, has now craftily presented this foreign policy fiasco as a foreign policy success!
Given the UPA’s poor track record in diplomacy and the Congress’s history of playing cynical politics, this begs the question: Under the garb of protecting national prestige, did the Ministry of External Affairs actually sacrifice our national interests so that the Congress-led regime could gain some easy brownie points in the run-up to the 2014 general electionIJ Did the Congress seek to make up with cheap demagoguery what it has failed to offer in terms of good governanceIJ Increasingly, this seems to be the case given how the Ministry of External Affairs is suddenly being hero-worshipped for baring its fangs and standing up to US bullying.
On a concluding note, however, it must be clarified that it is no one’s case that the Ministry of External Affairs should not have retaliated. To the contrary, it absolutely should have (more so, since the Richard family evacuation segment of this story is an insult to the India’s judicial system) — but not under the public glare. For instance, just like the common man knew nothing when American consular officials were given full diplomatic privileges over and above what was specified in the rule books, they didn’t have to be told when those measures were withdrawn. This would not have in any way blunted the Ministry of External Affairs’s diplomatic offensive but it would have saved the already strained India-US relationship from unnecessary pressure. But now, the whole thing just looks like a cheap pre-poll gimmick.