Water is being considered as one of the most important social input.Around one-third of the country's population lives in urban areas and this number will only increase in future owing to migration to cities.All this along with expanding industrial and agricultural activities has resulted in tremendous increase in demand of the water without subsequent increase in supply thus problem.
Causes of the this problem can be linked to various factors including majority of the urban areas do not have their independent sources of water supply and depend on some other areas both within or outside the concerned state.Lack of coordination between the concerned departments,states results in turf wars,blame games between the two resulting into imbalances of demand-supply and all this often results in drought and flood types situations in contrast to the time of need.Case of Delhi-Haryana fight over water epitomizes this.Moreover whatever water is available is also not used efficiently owing to reasons like water pollution,wastages due to leakages etc.According to some estimates around 20% of the water is being wasted during supply to cities because of one or more reasons.Some critics also blame schemes like free-water like the one by the incumbent Delhi government for for high wastages.
Consequences of all this includes:-
1)Less availability of water,will increase water inequalities further among rich and poor
2)Adversely impacts sanitation which in turn along with others can results in communicable diseases like malaria,diarrohoea.Infants are most vulnerable to it.This will put pressure on the already stressed health infrastructure.
3)as people esp women have to travel to long/medium distances for water it will result in wastage of time which could have been used more productively had there been no water problem
4)Will impact industrial process,agricultural sector in the cities which can have an impact on vegetable prices in specific which usually is being grown in and around urban centres for catering to the city demands
5)Eliminating menaces like open defecation under Swachh Bharat Abhiyaan will face a jolt.Rather it can increase the cases of open defecation owing to water scarcity
6)All this can in the worst case results in social tensions.
Water is an important constituent in today's life therefore requires prime importance from all including governments,society.On the supply side coordination between states,reducing leakages,searching alternative sources of water supply,reducing water pollution,rain water harvesting are some options on the supply side.In comparison on the demand side efficient use of water reducing wastages,focus on reuse and recycling followed by water audits for check on usage is the way forward.
Ans2:
Urban centres are centres of economic growth. These centre are putting extreme pressure on the natural resources for their existence. Water is the critical resource exploited exponentially leading to decline of ground water table.
- As Gandhi ji said, nature has enough for need but not for greed. The unregulated and illicit mismanagement of using the water has made the problem grave.
- Contamination of (surface water by dumping industrial & household waste and acid rain due to air pollution; also the ground water by leakage organic waste dump, clinical waste & radioactive isotopes dumping sites).
- The magnitude of the problem is grave if left unregulated:
1). Water borne disease leading loss of person productive hours and expenses over health.
2). Highly populated sites are highly contagious thus can easily lead to epidemic.
3). Arsenic and fluoride can impact the pregnant women and children severely even leading to deficiency in brain of new borne.
4). If the urban center are like Mumbai or Delhi can impact the economy of the country badly.
5). Issue for mass revolution and political instability thus making the city prone to external interference.
The government with better regulation can sort out the problem:
1). Accelerated Urban Water Supply Programme (AUWSP) was launched to provide water to towns with population of less than 20,000.
2). The Zakaria Committee recommended the water requirement per head per day 204 litres for cities with population between 5 lakh and 2 million and 272 litres for cities with population more than 2 million.
3). Limiting the allocation of water and waste management for curbing the contamination can be the game changer.
Causes of the this problem can be linked to various factors including majority of the urban areas do not have their independent sources of water supply and depend on some other areas both within or outside the concerned state.Lack of coordination between the concerned departments,states results in turf wars,blame games between the two resulting into imbalances of demand-supply and all this often results in drought and flood types situations in contrast to the time of need.Case of Delhi-Haryana fight over water epitomizes this.Moreover whatever water is available is also not used efficiently owing to reasons like water pollution,wastages due to leakages etc.According to some estimates around 20% of the water is being wasted during supply to cities because of one or more reasons.Some critics also blame schemes like free-water like the one by the incumbent Delhi government for for high wastages.
Consequences of all this includes:-
1)Less availability of water,will increase water inequalities further among rich and poor
2)Adversely impacts sanitation which in turn along with others can results in communicable diseases like malaria,diarrohoea.Infants are most vulnerable to it.This will put pressure on the already stressed health infrastructure.
3)as people esp women have to travel to long/medium distances for water it will result in wastage of time which could have been used more productively had there been no water problem
4)Will impact industrial process,agricultural sector in the cities which can have an impact on vegetable prices in specific which usually is being grown in and around urban centres for catering to the city demands
5)Eliminating menaces like open defecation under Swachh Bharat Abhiyaan will face a jolt.Rather it can increase the cases of open defecation owing to water scarcity
6)All this can in the worst case results in social tensions.
Water is an important constituent in today's life therefore requires prime importance from all including governments,society.On the supply side coordination between states,reducing leakages,searching alternative sources of water supply,reducing water pollution,rain water harvesting are some options on the supply side.In comparison on the demand side efficient use of water reducing wastages,focus on reuse and recycling followed by water audits for check on usage is the way forward.
Ans2:
Urban centres are centres of economic growth. These centre are putting extreme pressure on the natural resources for their existence. Water is the critical resource exploited exponentially leading to decline of ground water table.
- As Gandhi ji said, nature has enough for need but not for greed. The unregulated and illicit mismanagement of using the water has made the problem grave.
- Contamination of (surface water by dumping industrial & household waste and acid rain due to air pollution; also the ground water by leakage organic waste dump, clinical waste & radioactive isotopes dumping sites).
- The magnitude of the problem is grave if left unregulated:
1). Water borne disease leading loss of person productive hours and expenses over health.
2). Highly populated sites are highly contagious thus can easily lead to epidemic.
3). Arsenic and fluoride can impact the pregnant women and children severely even leading to deficiency in brain of new borne.
4). If the urban center are like Mumbai or Delhi can impact the economy of the country badly.
5). Issue for mass revolution and political instability thus making the city prone to external interference.
The government with better regulation can sort out the problem:
1). Accelerated Urban Water Supply Programme (AUWSP) was launched to provide water to towns with population of less than 20,000.
2). The Zakaria Committee recommended the water requirement per head per day 204 litres for cities with population between 5 lakh and 2 million and 272 litres for cities with population more than 2 million.
3). Limiting the allocation of water and waste management for curbing the contamination can be the game changer.
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