If India can have the technology to undertake Mission Mars, why can’t it produce world-class drinking water for all its citizensIJ
The bottled water business is worth Rs 1,000 crore annually and is growing at a rapid rate of over 40 per cent. In hotels, restaurants and conferences, people prefer drinking bottled water. Bottled water is sold on roadside shops in the countryside. In weddings, too, the grooms’ side has started demanding bottled water for the marriage party.
In middle class localities, one can find delivery boys making rounds with 20-litre jars on their bikes and bicycles. Some have even started using TATA’s mini truck Ace, also called Chhota Hathi, for door-to-door delivery. Soon, such bottled water vendors might match in numbers milk men who provide door-to-door delivery.
Despite the fact that most middle class homes have set up ROs in their kitchens, they are now looking for bottled water. I am no expert on water or drinking water technology, yet, as an observer, I see the great drinking water divide across sections of society.
RO or Reverse Osmosis is a process related to chemistry and is too complicated to deal with in this column. Dalit Indian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (DICCI) Delhi chapter head NK Chandan has some idea about the RO technology. He explains how the technology works. Over a decade ago, he was in Bangalore to repair a photocopy machine that his company had sold to a businessman, who had imported an RO machine and would display its magical results in neighbourhoods to promote his business.
The demonstration would be magical indeed. The businessman in question would give money to members of the audience to buy bottles of Coca Cola, Pepsi or Thumbs Up. The bottle would be emptied in the machine and the liquid that would fall into the jar would look like pure water. The businessman would then repeat the demonstration with dirty water. He would tell his audience about water-borne diseases. He did a brisk business; he still does.
As Chandan tells me, pre-RO filtration system eliminated dirt and bacteria of all kinds. The RO system preserves some of the bacteria that are good for human health. Please check with experts before buying this argument. Post-1990 wealth explosion and health consciousness that followed, thanks to the information technology revolution, people have been alarmed by the kind of water they drink. People are now well-informed about water borne diseases.
I came to Delhi in 1980 for my higher education. I studied in JNU, considered an elite institution in India. From the university V-C to professors to students to employees, all drank the same piped water that the Delhi Jal Board supplied. On the same JNU campus today, depending upon income and consciousness, people drink different kinds of water. Most teachers and employees have ROs.
There are ROs that are priced at Rs 54,000 in Delhi. A decent RO can cost Rs 10,000. The company keeps sending service engineers who change parts to ensure good quality water. At times the replacement can cost over Rs 1,000. How are people living in slums and underclass localities going to afford ROsIJ Some with money may not be able to install ROs because there isn’t sufficient place in the house they live in.
I have been to Europe and North America and stayed with families there. I never saw any kitchen with ROs. I was with a North American university for a semester. No one in the apartment I lived in had an RO. A friend has just returned from Japan and says none of the families he knows have an RO. The piped water that the citizens get is as good as the bottled water, if not better.
The question is why should different social classes drink different kinds of waterIJ Why should tribals drink water that is different from one consumed by non-tribalsIJ Why should a majority of Dalits drink water that is different from that consumed by non-DalitsIJ Why should villagers drink water that is different from the water urbanites drinkIJ Why citizens in small towns drink water that is different from the water citizens in cosmopolitan cities drinkIJ
Within big cities, why should slumdwellers drink water that is different from the water people drink in organised housing societies. Why isn’t the water an officer drinks available to his driverIJ
Amongst a host of inequalities that India is home to, drinking water inequality is the gravest. Why can’t India also produce the kind of piped water that Europe, North America or Japan produce for their citizensIJ
If India has the technology to undertake Mission Mars, why can’t we have technology to produce world-class drinking water for all its citizensIJ It is about time that India pursued a goal of water equality.