This refers to the editorial, “Water, water, everywhere” (July 1). Rains have always been a litmus test for the quality of urban infrastructure. It seems lessons have not been learnt from the floods in Kashmir, Chennai or even Uttarakhand. The country’s Millennium City, Gurgaon, is seen as a ‘slum of the rich’, a town of the affluent, but it has poor infrastructure. Seventy per cent of it’s water needs are being met from groundwater which has led to a sharp decline in the water table in the last 20 years. And only 40 per cent of the town has sewer lines.
One wonders when common sense will dawn on our people to not encroach on spaces like catchment areas, wetlands etc that are meant to receive flood waters and replenish groundwater. Drains have to be regularly de-silted and cleared of plastic so that they do not cause rainwater to stagnate on roads, resulting in torturous gridlocks. Meanwhile, public may make use of GPS-based mobile apps for redressal of their grievances.