Take it at the flood

Floods in monsoon, as we are seeing now, seem to bring out the most irrational in us. We bemoan the 8220;excess8221; of water around us. The fact is floods are a godsend8212;if we can store the water properly. China, South Africa, and even Mexico have per capita water storage of 1,000 cubic metres. India has managed only a lowly 200 cu m. If we don8217;t take note of this, we can bid goodbye to sustained economic growth. According to projections, were India8217;s water infrastructure not shored up, its water requirements would far outstrip all sources of supply within 15 years. The country8217;s limited reserves of groundwater are at present being pumped out at an alarming rate: some 70 per cent of its irrigation requirements and 80 per cent of its domestic water demands are met by mining groundwater.

There can, therefore, be no escape from urgently augmenting water storage capacity. Even the terms of the debate do not work any more. It is no longer a question of big dams versus small dams. It is a question of big dams plus small dams. And reservoirs, and tanks. We need to catch monsoon run-off, we need to impound the excess water from rain-swollen rivers, we need to develop our watershed areas, we need to restore our traditional water bodies, we need to repair, maintain and expand the reservoirs we do have, and we need to it now. Infrastructure of this kind would both bank water and act as a useful flood-control measure.

There is no way of accurately gauging how the monsoons will behave. Last year, 90 per cent of the rain fell in three weeks. But if we have systems in place to trap this water, where and when it falls, we will be doing ourselves a huge favour. Otherwise let8217;s be prepared to see our dreams of prosperity dry up.