The Hindu Business Line : Learning to revere water

If the State's Water Policy takes root, perhaps Kerala too will count among the regions and cultures that value and manage water resources responsibly.

A LAND so blessed with the watery greetings of Nature need hardly shed tears over a dry spell, but that is precisely what Kerala seems to be doing, going by what was happening last week in Kochi, the State's commercial capital - and summer had not yet quite set in.

The islanders of Vaduthala and Mulavukad were up in arms, complaining that the State Government's effort to supply water to the newly built High Court complex would divert their own precious liquid resources.

Meanwhile, the Department for International Development (DFID) of the UK Government commissioned the functioning of the 2.2 million-litres-per-day capacity water tank at Modi Bathroom Junction at Mattancherry, on the outskirts of the city, as part of its Water Supply Augmentation Scheme for West Kochi.

At the inauguration of the DFID project, Kerala's Water Resources Minister Thiruvanchoor Radhakrishnan said the second phase of the DFID-assisted project would be completed within 45 days. With three other water supply schemes in the pipeline, the water crisis of the Greater Cochin region would soon be solved, he added.

Not long ago, inaugurating the `Nila Sangamom-2006', a "people's water conservation movement" at Pattambi, Palakkad, the Minister had said that the Government would consider a proposal to set up the Nila Development Authority for the protection and conservation of the Bharathapuzha, arguably Kerala's best-loved river. All these show the State Government's commitment to accord top priority to water conservation and water security.

However, without adequately representative organisational structures at different levels of Kerala's society, no implementation of the State's Water Literacy Scheme will bear fruit. The State Government's efforts to draw up a `Water Policy', is thus appropriate. Given the fact that the World Water Day 2006 is barely a month away - on March 22 - the State is well poised to put into effect some serious methods to celebrate - and, more importantly, conserve - water.

Several organisations around the world are involved in the water conservation movement, among them the United Nations (UN). Each year, the UN chooses a different agency to co-ordinate events surrounding World Water Day around the world, also simultaneously choosing a different theme each time to reflect the many facets of freshwater resources.

World Water Day 2006 is to be guided by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (Unesco) under the theme `Water and Culture'.

As Unesco points out: "We plan our cities near water; we bathe in water; we play in water; we work with water. Our economies are built on the strength of water transportation - and the products we buy and sell are all partly water, in one way or another. Our daily lives are built on water, and shaped by it. Without the water that surrounds us - the humidity of the air, the roughness of the river's current, the flow from the kitchen tap - our lives would be impossible."

Yet, as Keralites are increasingly realising, water has been transformed into a consumer product, neglected and taken for granted and, worse, commercialised and commodified. As UNESCO elaborates,

"Each region of the world has a different way of holding water sacred, but each recognises its value and its central place in human lives. Cultural traditions, indigenous practices, and societal values determine how people perceive and manage water in the world's different regions."

If the State's Water Policy takes root, perhaps Kerala too will count among the regions and cultures that value and manage water resources in a responsible manner.

The writer can be contacted at kgkumar@gmail.com

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