Comment

The possibility that the next world wars will be fought over water has been widely discussed in the recent past. A new report by the Water Resources Group makes clear just how deep the global water crisis is. The demand for water will be the highest in the next 20 years and for India, this means that our demand for water will double by 2030. This is bad news in a country already severely short of water. And the portents of the world itself are worse.

Some of the problem is self-inflicted. Both agriculture and urban development pose a great strain on water resources and as human population and human demands have grown, so has the need for water. It might seem that all this is self-evident and therefore does not need to be repeated. However, the opposite is true. Although water is arguably our most precious resource, it is one which we take almost completely for granted. In cities, we open taps and we expect water.

Yet, already our suffering is immense. In Indian cities, the less privileged queue up for hours to get a minimum quota of water and in villages, people walk miles. At the same time, unfortunately, there is a profligate waste of water by the wealthy — swimming pools, golf courses and the washing of cars all use massive amounts of water.

The answers, fortunately, are also self-evident and we have to urgently put the necessary steps in place to save and replenish our water resources. Small things like fixing leaking taps can make a difference but we have to think bigger. A good beginning is with changing irrigation practices — more drip irrigation rather than wide scale watering of fields and a phasing out of non-essential water-intensive crops. Also a more concerted effort to follow rigorously rainwater harvesting methods.

The problem has been our lack of commitment — globally — to what we already know. The world is too much with us, as the English poet William Wordsworth put it and we have enough evidence of the danger we pose to this planet. False hope in small quantities of water found on the moon cannot be seen as the solution. This is our home and this is where we must fix the problem. Our atmosphere gives us ample water. But our misuse and our behaviour have been far from exemplary and the price we are starting to pay has become very expensive. It is now one of survival.