Water like air is among the fundamental requirements of life. No life can survive in absence of these two important elements of nature. Having these boons is not enough unless the air is without pollution and water is without contamination. Modern life style has brought very negative impact on these two elementary requirements. The air is getting more and more polluted either owing to ignorance and insensitivity of human beings or the senseless drive of modern industry in towns and villages. Only after modern society realized that it was endangering human life, the idea of purity of environment and maintenance of pristine ecology came up suddenly. Now the entire world is made aware of the dangers of pollution.
About water, we have very wantonly begun to destroy beautiful and life giving water bodies on the earth. Rivers, springs, lakes and rivulets are desecrated by throwing impurities or external bodies into them. In particular, we shall make a mention of our State which is rich in water resource. For ages these water bodies remained in their pristine purity. But when population increased and new residential colonies and habitats came up, there was great pressure on water. Encroachment of the receding water of water bodies became a serious cause for scarcity of water in them.
In our times, drinkable water is becoming a scarcity. Once human beings came to know that contaminated water was the cause of carrying many water born microbes and diseases, everybody now wants pure drinkable water. The Government had to decide to supply treated water to the consumers because that is its moral duty. However, supply of drinking water to all is not that simple a job. In the first place availability of water in sufficient quantity is to be ensured. Secondly, the water supplied for drinking has to be chemically treated to make it safe for drinking. Thirdly, carrying of water through water pipes in large and small cities and rural areas is an expensive exercise. Storage and maintenance of supply lines is also a component of the entire water supply scheme.
The status of drinking water available to the citizens of India is not that encouraging. From the data placed by the Union Minister for Drinking Water and Sanitation on the table in the Parliament, we find that over 3.14 lakh rural habitations do not have enough supply of safe drinking water which is contaminated in over 66,000 more habitations. Not only those 3, 14,529 rural habitations get less than 40 liters of safe drinking water per day. The Minister disclosed that there are 66,093 rural habitations where drinking water is contaminated with either one or more of the chemical contaminants like arsenic, fluoride, nitrate, iron and salinity.
For quite some time the United Nations has been warning the member states that in future there will be great pressure on water resources because the water level is falling, glaciers are melting and climatic conditions adversely impact water bodies qualitatively as well as quantitatively. World Governments are taking all steps they can to maintain the freshness and purity of water bodies. But unscrupulous people wantonly waste water and are not mindful of the fact that a day might come when a bottle of water will be more precious than a bottle of oil. In view of the disappointing picture painted by the minister, we would suggest the State Government to take cue from it and embark on a massive campaign of bringing awareness to the people of the state how they can conserve water judiciously and stop its wanton waste. Various effective steps can be taken in this regard. Automatic water taps, reducing the capacity of flush cisterns, strict enforcement of revenue realization mechanism by way of reasonable water charges, improvement of water storage mechanism and periodically changing the water supply pipelines etc. are some of the measures that ought to be considered by the concerned authorities in the States. Treatment and recycling of used water is very common in Western countries. This ought to be imitated and improved upon. Rural population has to be educated and trained in how they can purify contaminated water without mechanical intervention. Most importantly, rural people have to be educated on routine use of water for human needs and the needs of livestock. If nothing, people are to be advised to use boiled water for drinking purposes. In cities and towns we see even educated people using drinking water for watering flowers, turf or backyard vegetable gardens. This is misuse of water. Millions of gallons of purified water are thus used for a purpose for which ordinary water can be used. In short, we need to understand that drinking water is becoming a precious commodity and it has to be treated with great care.
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