Our water woes: Ecological imbalance is the culprit!

Author : Madhuranthakam Prabhakar Rao

When we were pastoral societies, despite human & animal excreta including gases released through ‘passing gas’ – which largely comprise nitrogen, 20–90% (N2), hydrogen, 0–50% (H2), oxygen, 0–10% (O2), carbon dioxide, 10–30% (CO2), methane, 0–10% (CH4) – despite the last two being “GHGs (green house gases), with high global warming potential, there has not been the phenomenon of ‘climate change’, as we see it today.

While we were 100% agrarian society – despite our clearing large tracts of forests (depleting the overall green cover to a large extent) to pave the way for ‘systematic cultivation’ – resulting in lesser ‘perennial green cover’ and mass-scale emission of a high potential GHGs like methane (CH4) along with great amounts of ‘water vapors’ – due to rice-cultivation which has been occupying largest portion of all cultivable land, we did not witnessed the phenomenon of ‘climate change’ either. And ‘mother nature’ had taken care of it, somehow, and ensured that the GHG blanket protecting earth from the dangerous levels of bombardment of infrared radiation of the sun and stars has been kept intact.

No matter who extends what type of specious argument, the phenomenon of ‘global warming’ resulting in permanent ‘climate change’ did started happening with the industrial revolution and began to peak when we adapted the production of ‘economies-of-scales’ to beat the competition, earn more & more profits and to create demand by dumping goods onto the market, backed by unscrupulous MARCOM strategies for creating demand for certain goods where none existed earlier.  This and this alone has resulted in uncontrolled and large-scale emissions of scores of harmful gases including the some very dangerous GHGs, not to speak of others with potential carcinogens, et al as well as effluents onto the soil & water.

Simultaneously, the same ‘industrial revolution’ also has attracted mass-scale migration of the great populations from rural world to the industrial hubs, resulting in rapid and unplanned urbanisation that ensured that we tampered with the ‘natural storm-water drainage systems’ as well as block most natural percolation points, without having compensating that loss with the ‘artificial once’.  Where we created such ‘artificial storm-water drainage systems’ we chose the easy rout of connected them to the local water streams and other bodies and freely allowed our polluting industries & municipalities drain their untreated or partially treated effluents and domestic sewage into them, without care or concern making them permanently unfit for local habitats.  Classic cases are, all our so-called ‘holy-rivers’ and not so holy but former life-lines of the residents of urban hubs - both humans & animals (marine as well as surface) - having been irresponsibly converting them into hazardous water steams and bodies which, in turn converted healthy cultivable lands into soils containing dangerous levels of heavy metals, poisonous chemicals, and toxins.

With adequate provision for percolation gone, the underground water levels have started going down by the day and we have already reached the nadir on that front.  And the rivers & all other streams flooding the natural lakes & man-made irrigation ponds with highly toxic waters made them into chemical cauldrons; they not only became unfit for human & animal consumption but also aiding the poisoning of the vegetables, fruit & other cultivated food products that grow with them, on account of soil & water-contamination.  This is in addition to our ‘green, white & blue-revolutions’ having been, heavily, dependent on inorganic fertilizers, pesticides, insecticides, weedicides, et al contaminating the surface and the underground water bodies as well.

• On account of all the above factors, we have also started indulging in another kind of criminal wastage of economic resources - forcing ourselves to utilise over 95% of the ‘treated potable’ water for non-drinking purposes.
• ‘Treated potable water’ is supplied at the rate of only 15 liters per person, per day, strictly to be used for drinking & cooking purpose, after supplying the rest of the requirement through duly remediated water from wells, streams, lakes, etc.
• Investing on mega-dams for irrigation has, no doubt, enabled us to achieve the targets of our ‘green & other-revolutions’ but, in doing so we have carelessly neglected in repairing our medium & minor irrigation systems, resulting in their becoming useless for either collection of rain-water or for local percolation.
• The belatedly brought-in MSW Rules of India, 2000 joining the bandwagon of a host of ‘never-fully-implemented’ Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1974 with amendments thereof, Air (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1981, will all amendments thereof, Hazardous Wastes Rules, 1989 and The Environment (Protection) Act, 1986 woefully deserve a revamp along with making the implementing agencies absolutely corruption-free as well as empowered, without any political interference.
• Irresponsible abuse of environment should be treated as a capital crime on a par with murder, rape, armed robbery, kidnapping, sedition, etc.
• Governments should seriously think in terms of revising & maintaining minor & medium irrigation and should altogether discourage concentrated development and should adapt distributed development in agriculture, industry, health, education and in all other spheres of development.

Putting a permanent full-stop to all forms of further pollution of our surface and sub-surface soil & water and should start ‘remediation’ works of all our polluted water bodies, soils, et al and especially make it strictly, mandatory to restore and create ground water recharge mechanisms.  The greedy corporates or individuals, illegally, occupying public resources like ‘storm-water drainage systems & percolation-points (natural or otherwise) should be immediately evicted and the same be reclaimed for the community.