Be it the moratorium on constructions in Bengaluru or polluted water claiming lives alarmingly, Doomsday is here
Karnataka’s deputy chief minister has clearly done some loud thinking on the water crisis in Bengaluru, which is fast approaching Day Zero, saying new apartment complexes would not be built for the next five years to avoid resource stress. It may seem outrageously bold but with NITI Aayog predicting Day Zero for 21 Indian cities, Bengaluru among them, and Chennai’s frightening images of water woes, these are probably the last warning bells to reshape urban life as we know it. The facts are glaring, there’s just 1.59 tmc ft water in reservoirs compared to 60 tmc ft last year, there is no water in the Cauvery for two months, there is over-extraction of ground water with borewells having now gone down to 1,200 ft and replenishing supplies with tankers has made many residents sick with no guarantee of hygiene standards by the water mafia. Central government data has also indicated how polluted water, because of overdrawal, unhindered waste flow discharges and chemicals leaching into vaccuumised water tables has resulted in seven deaths everyday in 2018. So it is understandable why desperate conditions call for desperate measures. Of course, correctives, such as the one suggested in Karnataka, cannot ignore the pitfalls, the primary one being on the local economy. A moratorium of this kind would naturally be a disincentive for industries and divert them to the hubs of Hyderabad and Amaravati. It would prevent MNCs from expanding operations requiring migrant talent as there would be a tremendous pressure on housing them in the city. Besides, the demand spiral for rented space, too, would push up prices. Not that the workarounds aren’t being looked at, like creating sub-cities round Bengaluru to take off the pressure of urbanisation, desilting and recharging lakes, making rainwater harvesting mandatory at the community level, recycling water and ensuring compliance of zoning residential and commercial use norms. Some techie groups have also suggested using technology to map water requirements across localities and rationing supplies accordingly.
Bengaluru is just a tiny dot in India’s acute waterscape where 12 per cent of India’s population is already believed to be living the ‘Day Zero’ scenario because of excessive groundwater usage, a wasteful water management system and years of deficient rains. A CWMI report also states that by 2030, the country’s water demand is projected to be twice the available supply, implying severe water scarcity among our people resulting in a six per cent loss in the country’s GDP. The Jal Shakti Ministry has been created to supply potable water to every home by 2024 but that alone cannot be a solution as it is dependent on a supply matrix that frankly won’t work if there is no water in the first place. Taking lessons from Cape Town, which just about scraped through Day Zero, we have to move our focus from merely increasing supply to managing the demand better. Cape Town rationed water usage by metering 50 litres per person per day. Overuse meant auto shutdown of supply or hefty fines. Even the World Health Organisation (WHO) has quantified individual need at 25 litres daily for basic hygiene and food needs. The rest is used for non-potable purposes. We should reuse and recycle treated wastewater, at least for non-potable purposes. And this is cost-effective too. Most importantly, we also have to look at farming innovations that water-stressed regions are already working on. The Chennai experience showed us how irrigation by flooding was costing us and if we do not zone cropping patterns according to the water map or find what every crop really needs, we may not be able to put our most precious resource to multiple uses. Farmers around Cape Town switched over to night-time irrigation, mulching and wetting a focussed area around the trees’ roots systems. They stopped growing non-native and thirsty plants and added seven per cent more water to the city. However, while policy experts, government and climate activists do their bit, the Cape Town experience shows us how individual behavioural change staved off a crisis. Residents, much like Chennaiites, showered over buckets under a platform to catch the runoff for reuse, recycled washing machine water and limited toilet flushes. Till discipline becomes a part of our beehive mindset, there’s no hope. And urban living is no more about chasing dreams but living with reality.