Water Wars ?
Long
time back , someone had said :
The
third World War will be fought over water
I
don't know about World War 3 , but I have a dreadful feeling that , soon enough
, a Civil War may get fought over water in our country !
For
decades , our Southern States have been fighting over the waters of Krishna ,
Kaveri , Godavari etc
Recently
, Punjab has stopped supplying water to Haryana thru SYL ( Sutlej - Yamuna Link
canal )
In
the meantime , 10 States are declared " Drought Affected "
Section
144 has been imposed in Latur and other cities
Armed
police are deployed to protect water-stealing from dams in Bundelkhand
Thousands of farmers in Maharashtra / Rajasthan are committing
suicide because of crop failures , leading to starvation
Lakhs
of drought-affected villagers are migrating to city-slums / railway platforms /
under the city-bridges
Villagers
are refusing to marry their daughters to youth in drought affected villages
Lakhs of women are trudging 10 KM in 40* C temperature to fetch a
bucketful of water
Even
children ( under age of 10 ) are leaving studies and waiting with pots , for
the arrival of water tanker
Maharashtra
CM , Fadnavis says : You may shift the IPL outside Maharashtra , if you
wish ! We are not supplying POTABLE WATER to stadiums !
What
is holding him back to say : Sorry , potable or not , I will not allow IPL
to
WASTE , 60 Lakh liters of water , under any circumstance !
Several
World Bodies have forecast that by 2050 ,
millions will die in India due to water shortage
WHAT IS THE PERMANENT SOLUTION ?
#
At the
level of Central Government
*
Make " Water Conservation / Usage " , a CENTRAL SUBJECT
in our
Constitution . Remove it from the list of STATE SUBJECTS
*
Declare all existing sources of water ( Rivers and Lakes ) , as National
Resources belonging to entire Nation and not to the particular State
where these are located
*
Make it Center's responsibility to decide which State shall use how
much of each of these resource ( allocation / rationing )
*
Center will also be responsible for developing of future resources by
digging lakes & ponds / building dams / interlinking rivers & lakes etc
Use MNREGA funds for creating such assets
*
Center will not need permission of any State to implement such projects
*
Center will implement " River Interlinking " Project by 2025 , and
for this,
it will not require permission of any State
As repeatedly lobbied by me , please find a
way to divert BLACK MONEY
to this Infrastructure SPV ( Tax haven
or local - which is 100 times ! )
*
Mercilessly , shut down all factories dumping polluting effluents in rivers
#
At
the level of State Governments
*
Make following mandatory for ALL buildings (
existing or future )
+ Rain water harvesting system ( this tank to supply toilets / sinks etc
)
+ Recycling of water from Kitchen / Shower / Wash Basins, for use in
toilets , by installing a simple sand filtering tank in society compounds
+ Installation of water flow restrictors in all taps
+ Mechanism which stops water flow when hands are removed under tap
+ Water Supply Cut of 25 % , round the
year
Do not raise Water Charges . The higher the
charges , more ways will
be found to evade ( as in case of Personal Income Tax ! )
Water meters will get tempered or bypassed !
Note
the following :
*
Of all the water that rains bring , 99 % flows out to seas, leaving 1 %
on land
*
Out of this 1% , 99 % percolates into the ground , leaving 1 % ( of that
1 % ) , into lakes above the ground !
*
75 % of earth's surface is covered with seas / oceans . So , really , there
is PLENTY of water - millions of times more than 7 billion earthlings need
*
Nature ( Sun ) has gifted the Earth with evaporation / condensation cycle
which converts the salty sea water into distilled potable water,
automatically / continuously , and deliver onto the land masses
As far as India is concerned , all that is required , is to dig 700,000
ponds / lakes ( one in each village ) , where
we capture / store rain water
*
These 700,000 ponds must be lined with Geo-Synthetic
Fabrics to ensure
that the captured water does not seep underground - a simple technology
*
Capturing most of rain water in these ponds , will raise the water table in
bore wells
*
None of the above suggestions require Rocket Science ! But , even if it
does , our Scientists who have sent Mars Orbital Mission , are quite
capable of finding appropriate solutions !
I
hope the Center / the State Governments and all the political parties , rise
above
their differences and join hands , to avoid a CIVIL
WATER WAR !
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
www.hemenparekh.in / blogs
09
April 2016
hemen parekh
Marol , Mumbai , India
( M ) +91 - 98,67,55,08,08
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