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Journalism of Courage
The absolute centrality of water in human life has been universally recognised. The scriptures have extolled the truth that water is life, the poets have sung about it and environmentalists have gone green in the face highlighting this concern. Yet the world8217;s water resources continue to be used and abused in the most shortsighted, irresponsible and callous manner possible. The World Water Forum that was recently held at the Hague may, at one level, have been just another gigantic jamboree, as most international conferences tend to become. It does, nevertheless, represent a valuable international consensus on the need for the human community to work at providing what the 158 nations that had participated at the conference termed as 8220;water security in the 21st century8221;.
Water security is all about ensuring that every human being has equal access to 8220;safe and sufficient8221; water to attend to their basic human needs and an estimated 1 billion people still do not have this. Water security is about ensuring that the freshwater resources of every country and the eco-systems that sustain them, are protected and enhanced. Water security is about ensuring that water bodies everywhere are not allowed to deteriorate into sewers of poison through the careless disposal of domestic sewage and factory effluent. Water security is also about putting sustainable consumption practices in place making full use of new technologies and principles of resource management. Of all the regions on the globe it is the poorer and more populated countries that stand most at risk in this regard.
In Asia, certainly, the problem has assumed gigantic proportions, with water use between 1930 and 1995 having increased by an estimated 300 per cent. In the process, two phenomena have become increasingly manifest that of scarcity and pollution.
India has thus far steadfastly ignored the issue, even as its major river systems and water bodies have deteriorated almost beyond repair. The Ganga Action Plan, arguably one of the most ambitious and expensive attempts made by any government at the Centre to address the problem of water pollution, is today in a shambles. The Ganga continues to roll by carrying its burden of carcasses and urban sewage. Unplanned and careless industrialisation has practically destroyed river systems like the Damodar, making life for the communities dependent on it a living hell. India is home to some of the most beautiful lakes in the world but each one of them, whether it is Kashmir8217;s Dal or Orissa8217;s Chilka, is today facing a murderous assault. Every summer brings with it a legacy of drought and despair, even in Kerala8217;s verdant land; just as the monsoon is a harbinger of floods and despair in states like Bihar, West Bengal and Assam. While Gujarat has already witnessed water riots resulting in deaths, unsuitable agriculturalpractices in states like Haryana and Punjab have led to a serious depletion of groundwater reserves.
All these problems may manifest themselves in disparate regions and in disparate ways, but they need to be addressed through sane and sustainable measures. The insights thrown up by the World Water Forum must therefore be carefully studied and translated into policy.
