Is it not a fact that India has reached a plateau in terms of water resource exploitation, with few options for the construction of new dams, and ground water also depleting? Time is running out, water is also running out…..

The ADB observations should not lose sight of: that climate change may bring about a decrease in the quantity and quality of land for agricultural use, scarcity in surface water for irrigation, and a boom in pest population, the bank said. Other food production sectors such as fisheries may also suffer from an increase in water salinity, affecting fish populations; while heat stress and limited water intake due to a decrease in rainfall may adversely affect livestock yield. The bank said that to address these issues, governments must improve water and farm management practices, adopt new technology and invest in more agricultural infrastructure.

Water scarcity already poses a great threat before economic growth, human rights and national security. As per recent UN estimates around 1.2 billion people - around 20 percent of world population - were living in areas where the limits of sustainable water use had already been reached or breached. It is high time that the issue needs to be placed high on the global agenda. In fact the world is urgently required to adapt to the reality. There is still enough water for all of us if and only if we keep it clean and share the same. In fact we face the challenge that we must make safer stores of water available to all.

Actually, for a 21st century company it has been all about the triangle – water, food and climate change. The challenge can only be mitigated if collaborative approaches are taken up backed by political will, market mechanisms and innovative technology. Market forces could work well under a cap-and-trade approach similar to those applied to carbon dioxide.

Favouring market forces to play a role in the management of scarce water, - defining the value of water, positively aids to take a big leap forward.

It is not a problem in our country alone – it is a global phenomenon – an area where immediate adequate attention is to be paid so that the things do not go from bad to worse. It is essential for survival – more important than anything else – the most crucial factor considered from the point of view of environment protection, poverty alleviation and promotes development in as much as now that globally more than two and half billion people live in the most abysmal standards of hygiene and sanitation. Wastage of water and absence of regular clean water supply not only to the burgeoning metropolis but to huge rural regions also simultaneously coexists.

Even Beijing, proud of achieving the highest growing region in the world ( ? ), still remains drought prone and shortages are expected to persist for years to come. The mighty Colorado river in North America, seldom meets the sea. One third of the U S and one fifth of Spain still suffer from water stress. Central Africa’s Lake Chad, supporting the very life of 30 million plus people has already shrunk to one-tenth of its former size, the negative contributory factors being climate change, drought, mismanagement and over use, among others.

In India, though accessibility to drinking water has increased considerably during the last decade in particular, yet around 10 percent of the rural and urban population still does not have access to regular safe drinking water and during critical summer especially, the condition goes from bad to worse, still in many parts of the country. Excessive extraction of ground water to meet agriculture, industrial and domestic demands is steadily harming the rural and urban settlements.

What is more, it has been estimated that by 2017 India will be water stressed and per capita availability will decline to 1600 cubic meters. The available annual utilisable water in our country (surface plus ground) stands at 1100 billion cubic meters. Side by side, the grave concern here is the fact that the total cost of environmental damage in India, as per World Bank estimates, amounts to 4.5 percent of GDP and of this 59 percent results from the health impact of water pollution!

What is more a cause of anxiety is the fact that the adequate availability of safe drinking water is far from being satisfactory. Though water contains organic and inorganic impurities, the main source of diseases are the organic impurities which enter into the water through the soil from cesspools, through manure, or through sewers emptying their contents into the rivers - from which many cities, in particular get their drinking water supply.

Added to this, the very piping system into the home, unclean water tanks, improper drainage and waste disposal systems, also contribute to impure or contaminated water. Again, presence of excess inorganic matters [iron, lead salts, etc] also nicely paves the way for various ailments and diseases to occur like: constipation, dyspepsia, colic, paralysis, kidney disease and sometimes even death.

As opposed to the popular perception hardness of water is not a risk to health so long it does not contain disease causing pathogens and bacteria. Especially, during summer and rainy seasons the position goes from bad to worse - water borne diseases become rampant. Extreme hot and humid environment are the favourite bacteria breeding seasons.

Philips, the maker of Philips Intelligent Water Purifier, has rightly, thus, been publicizing for public health awareness that dangerous bacteria produce deadly diseases like: jaundice, cholera, typhoid, diphtheria, kidney problems, nervous system problems and even lead to increased risk of cancer.

The immediate need is thus there to invest in reliable, proven and advanced water purification system that guarantees the public – in rural and urban areas – safe and pure drinking water at all times. Latest technology available on this score must be extensively made use of in a time bound manner to protect the human beings from getting crushed via pollution routes.

This adequately shows that immediate actions are to be taken to protect the wealth – cutting down the number of people without safe access to water in a time bound manner. The Secretary-General of the United Nations, Ban Ki- moon, rightly observes:

‘We need to begin thinking about better strategies for managing water – for using it efficiently and sharing it fairly. This means partnerships involving not just governments but civil society groups, individuals and businesses’.

True. We are still at very early stages of awakening. A realistic approach - obviously not by holding Seminars and observance of world water day only – can mitigate the incidence. The responsibility lies equally with the Government sector as well as the private sector – checking the unrestricted exploitation of ground water, encouraging planned urbanization, optimisation of use, restricting the flow of effluents from industrial units to the rivers and obvious enough stricter supervision and effectively discharging the duties and responsibilities related to corporate social responsibility.

As a whole the system should ultimately work as a part of the solution rather than a problem. The need is to move beyond mere use of water to stewardship – to protect what is steadily becoming an increasingly scarce resource - ultimately benefiting the settlements / communities. It is crystal clear that population growth would put further strain on the per capita availability of water. Efforts to enhance drinking water supply must move at a greater speed so as to cover all villages with adequate potable water connection / supply.

Technology, needless to say, would play the bigger role in such a context to meet the people’s basic needs in a sustained manner. Naturally, protecting fresh water reserves, watershed development, chemical treatments following the safety norms, tackling the arsenic and fluoride contamination, among others, could give rich dividends. It is high time that the gross disparity prevailing on this score requires the immediate attention so as to mitigate the incidence. Investment / raising fund allocations on this infrastructure development will benefit all in the long run in as much as it will ensure coverage of all rural habitations to reach the unreached with access to safe drinking water; sustainability of the systems and sources and tackling the water quality problems in affected habitations.

The government has to come up with a new water resource strategy, since the sector needs to become more sustainable, efficient and focused on how water is used and how it reaches people. To ensure economic growth and political stability, approach to water management must be a positive, forward looking and not myopic! Let there be no water conflicts, conflicts between users and across regions. Water limits are close to being breached in several countries, while food output has to increase by up to 100 percent by 2050 to sustain a growing world population, according to the United Nations. The World Bank rightly said that key problems in India’s water sector include data secrecy, competition for resources, too much focus on increasing supply and not enough on management.

Side by side: to mitigate the impact of climate change on food production, the Asian Development Bank (ADB) urged governments in developing Asia to push for improvements in water and farm management practices while increasing investments in agricultural infrastructure. In particular, the ADB observed that “sound water sound water management practices, such as promoting the adoption of water conservation techniques, water recycling, or integrated river basin planning, [may be adopted] to improve resilience to changes in the hydrologic cycle and to provide co-benefits to other sectors, such as health.”

No doubt, the reform of the sector could offer many opportunities for private investors too, particularly in new irrigation technology and in urban sewage projects to meet the needs of expanding populations in small towns. As the overexploitation of aquifers has gone beyond anything imaginable, we immediately need a new ground water law and discourage water use deemed detrimental to the public interest.