Delhi water crisis: Why it could get worse in coming years

In the backdrop of high pitched blame-game between Delhi government and opposition parties over water scarcity in the capital, this issue in the current times demands immediate attention, more importantly from a perspective that gauges the environmental imbalance that Delhi has slipped into and its impact on ecology.

People wait for their turn to fill empty containers with water using lengths of hose pipe from a Delhi Jal Board tanker, at Sanjay Colony in Okhla Phase II, in New Delhi. Photo: Getty Images

In the backdrop of high pitched blame-game between Delhi government and opposition parties over water scarcity in the capital, this issue in the current times demands immediate attention, more importantly from a perspective that gauges the environmental imbalance that Delhi has slipped into and its impact on ecology. In urban India, climate change and its impact has moved on from being a subject of  academic table talks and seminars to becoming a real life issue. Increase in temperature and the subsequent rise in the level of sea and ocean waters, depleting forest cover, increase of CO2 level in the atmosphere and its impacts are now part of discussions at home & office. With the onset of summer in Delhi, new highs of temperature,  scuffles over water shortage and distress of commoners make television and newspaper headlines on a regular basis. Current city government is at the receiving end for not being able to ensure regular supply of water in many areas of Delhi, let alone free water as promised by it. It is appreciable that these concerns are taking centre stage in the media but seeing these issues only from the prism of politics where these issues are endlessly juggled as one upmanship tools will not take us any closer to the solution. Urban centres worldwide, especially mega-cities like Delhi are increasingly under the threat of ill effects of increasing temperature and decreasing water availability. In case of Delhi, the problems are magnified due to the sheer size of the city and its callous attitude towards managing current and potential resources. This indifference is not new and has been passed on from one government to another for decades. One glaring example of this callousness is the state of water bodies in the city. Once a city brimming with more than thousand big and small water bodies is now struggling to keep alive less than a couple of hundred of them. A monsoon on an average brings Delhi a rather healthy 80 cm of rain which experts claim is enough to meet 60-70% of Delhi's water need, provided it gets conserved. One can see merit in the claim as the city never faced water scarcity issue even after rapid  population influx and resultant infrastructure development. Over time the concoction of apathy and greed engulfed these lifelines and The water bodies started being encroached upon for roads, parks, buildings, sometimes legal but mostly illegal. It however, did not go completely unnoticed as Hon. Delhi high court's directives for urgent revival of water bodies of Delhi was passed as far back as in the year 2003 proves. One can possibly imagine that things would have started improving after that but such is the character of Delhi that things have only gotten worse, 16 years down the line there are fewer & smaller waterbodies. After years of indifference, Delhi currently has started facing acute shortage of water every summer, multiple national and international agencies have further warned that things are going to get severe in the coming years. It is about time the people of the city take charge of this worrying situation, One of the ways they can intervene is by adopting a waterbody around them & start the process of reviving it. It by no means will be an easy task to get people to commit to the cause in its entirety especially in the face of non cooperative or rather hostile government departments & agencies in most cases but it is all going to be worth it with each and every effort contributing towards a larger objective, a larger good. It is also high time to make political parties and their representatives realize that beyond their rhetorics & offer of freebies, basic issues like clean air & water availability are going to be a factor and their respective commitment & efforts towards resolving them shall play an important role in choosing the dispensation as and when time comes. Author: Sumit Maluja is secretary of Sukarman, an NGO working in the field of water conservation and environment. Disclaimer: The opinions, beliefs and views expressed by the various authors and forum participants on this website are personal and do not reflect the opinions, beliefs and views of ABP News Network Pvt Ltd.