Water problem

Pure water is such a rare commodity these days. The affordable ones are buying it packaged in bottles or bubbles. Will it be only in the dream of the common man? Can linking rivers provide regular supply of sort-of pure water? There is lots of pressure to take this approach. There are many famous people such as actors promoting this idea and also contributing shares to the cause. The linking of rivers, even if it is feasible, can never ever be a permanent solution. The basic question is for how long and to how many people, these rivers can feed.

After linking, Ganges, the mother of all rivers, can supply abundant amounts of water to every river in India. What will happen when Ganges dries out? Will the “then government” search for next Potential River from “another country”? What about the ecological damage this river linking is going to cause? What will happen to the rivers now majestic but later dwindle to nothing. What about the birds, animals and trees that depend on them? Will we be able to turn back the clock? Man is always selfish and competitive; they don’t hesitate to make other forms of life extinct. He doesn’t even realize that he is digging his own grave by doing this.

The government should focus on the alternate methods. Instead of spending lot of money on the river linking project, it should focus on educating and demanding the people on the well proven old methods. Rain harvesting to recharge ground has been proven successful in Chennai, where the ground water quality has improved. Rain harvesting for domestic use has proven successful at least in one of the household in Bangalore, who was able to live whole year, without the need to use metro water. In Bangalore, one of the colleges collected the rainwater to a water catchments area in their premises and they were able to save considerable cost. More than the cost, they were able to rely on their own sources and never have the need to burden others.

If every household does this and every village stores the excess seasonal rain water in to artificial lakes, there will be no fight for water between states during summer. Our future generations will not be going around begging for water. We inherited this world from our ancestors and we have a duty to pass it on to our younger generations without depleting the resources.

Relevant links:
http://www.indiatogether.org/2005/mar/env-barrel.htm
http://www.rainwaterclub.org/