Opinion - Creative Solutions For The Water Crisis

The media is awash with details and data on the shortage of water in different parts of the country.

People can be seen standing in serpentine queues for a pot full of water or going down deep stairwells to draw a single pot of water. Media headlines abound with stories about how the IT industry in Chennai has asked its employees to work from home as there is no water in their offices on Old Mahabalipuram Road (OMR). Malls have asked restaurants to reduce consumption or temporarily shut operations. This is a worrying situation.

Monsoons have added to our woes; it arrived late in Kerala and across most of the western parts of India. When it does rain, clouds download moisture in huge quantities in a short duration of time, flooding cities and states, something we have never experienced in the past.

The context of our current challenges

In the 18th century, the global population stood at one billion. In a span of 200-odd years, it has ballooned to 7.3 billion. The population started increasing when human beings moved from the nomadic stage to that of agriculture. It increased rapidly with the onset of the industrial age in the 17th and18th centuries. If India’s population was 35crores in 1947, it currently stands at 113 crores.The availability of water per person in 1947was six lakh liters per annum. Now, it has decreased to approximately 1.13 lakh liters per annum.