The Hindu Business Line : Managing water

A TIME there was when air and water were assumed to be free goods of which there was an inexhaustible supply. Clean air no longer comes free but at a cost, though hidden, in terms of money spent on controlling and guarding against air pollution.

In the case of water, the problem goes beyond quality to availability itself. The world as a whole, and developing countries, in particular, has been waging what looks dangerously like a losing battle to cope with the need of water for their exploding populations.

People living in thousands of villages in India are still going without any reliable or regular access to drinking water. Experts have computed that by 2020 water availability will drastically come down by 21 per cent, and one-third of India will be face to face with absolute water scarcity.

Hitherto, it is the supply side that had been grabbing the lion's share of attention, whereas in the prevailing crisis, mobilisation of citizenry for better management of demand and consumption has become a far more compelling necessity.

The fact is that even the menacing prospect of dwindling supply does not seem to have galvanised people, especially those belonging to the middle class, to exercise particular care in using and conserving water. Government agencies responsible for ensuring supply are also lax in setting an example. Just look at the millions of litres of water wasted in spillage from thousands of water tankers plying in the cities or leaking from pipelines.

There is need for an intensive campaign directed at the household sector on the many simple and self-evident ways in which available water can be put to the best use possible.

Such a campaign should be broad based enough to enlist the enthusiastic and energetic cooperation of residents' associations, voluntary organisations, panchayati raj institutions and the print and electronic media. The support of the language media will be crucial. This can be supplemented by undertaking, in selected areas, expert surveys on the observance of the guidelines for conservation and making the findings public.

Coming to agriculture, some time ago, a survey of the Cauvery basin in Thanjavur district of Tamil Nadu disclosed that if only the progressive and enlightened farmers there set their hearts to it, the requirement of water for cultivation could be reduced by more than 30 per cent.

Indian farmers in general are still to be attuned to the advantages of modern agricultural practices such as precision farming and micro-irrigation which help in avoiding over-irrigation and water-logging. For instance, out of 27 million hectares which have the potential for micro-irrigation, so far only half-a-million hectares have been covered and the target for the next five years is just two million hectares.

A time is fast approaching when, however macabre it may seem, between the baby and the bathwater, it is the baby that gets thrown!

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