 Earth is a wet, wet planet. There is something like 1.5 billion
cubic kilometres (15,00,000 billion litres) of water on Earth. But, hold on, anyone above
the age of 10 will tell you that most of this water is salty. Subtract that and even then
you have something between 12,500 and 14,000 billion litres of water available for human
use annually. Also consider this: More than 110,000 cubic kilometres of fresh water rain
down on the continents every year. There is enough for everyone to use. More than enough
of freshwater, and more than enough to drink. The problem, as said earlier is that
freshwater reserves are not uniformly distributed, and nor does this water fall uniformly
over the globe.
| Water water somewhere... |
Distribution of freshwater resources
worldwide is very unequal. For example, Asia has 60
per cent of the world population but 36 per cent of river runoff. Whereas, South America
accounts for six per cent of population but 26 per cent of runoff |
 |
Some have more. Some parts of the world have more than they need, while others do not
have any and get very little. Rivers have their own paths, and ground water reserves are
not distributed diplomatically. In India for instance, Rajasthan with 8% of the
country’s population has only 1% of the water, and Bihar with 10% of the population
has 5% of it.
Pipe dreams. Zings, kuls, kunds, bamboo pipelines, anicuts, johads,
baolis. Rainwater harvesting structures built by people across India to get precious
freshwater. And then came British with centralised pipelines. We got an unified water
supply system, and the traditional systems went through a dying phase.
 |
Why
1.1 billion
don't have
enough
to drink? |
Corruption. Anna Hazare, a social reformer from
Mahahrastra, asked 425 village heads in the state about the water supply programmes in
their villages. 165 replied that the projects were dead, with money siphoned off by a
handful of people. Each of these projects cost some Rs 7 lakh. A tiny example of the
drinking water programmes of our nation.
Price-less. The water gushing out of our taps is being provided to us almost for
free. When something is free, we can use as much and in whatever way, right? On the other
hand, plenty of money is needed to supply treated ‘safe’ water to us.
Digging. No water? No problem. Dig. From 65,700 diesel pumps in 1951, there are
4,360,000 today. Extraction of underground water in India exceeds recharge by a factor of
two or more. Groundwater provides for about one-third of the world's population, and is
the only source of water for rural dwellers in many parts of the world. An estimated 65
per cent of public water supplies in Europe come from groundwater sources.
Bad Irrigation. Roughly 70 per cent (globally) of freshwater from rivers or
underground is used for irrigation. Across the world, farmers are pumping groundwater
faster than rainfall can replenish it, causing a steady drop in groundwater tables.
Urbanisation. Urbanisation means plenty of flush toilets, industrialisation and
agricultural modernisation. Mega cities have millions of people in a concentrated area,
and finding enough water nearby is very difficult. |
