Harsha Mohan Sarma
(harshasarma183@gmail.com)
“Water, water everywhere, Nor any drop to drink.”
— Samuel Taylor Coleridge, from The Rime of the Ancient Mariner
The essence of these two famous lines from the renowned English Romantic poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge’s poem The Rime of the Ancient Mariner aligns beautifully with a line from an Assamese zikir (a spiritual folk song):
‘‘Pani more piyahat, agni more jarat.” (“Water dies of thirst, fire dies of cold”)
This line conveys that while surrounded by abundance, one still lacks access to what is truly needed. Just a couple of days of heavy rainfall and most areas in Guwahati city become submerged. Roads become unmotorable. The foundations of many homes go underwater. Yet, the water flooding Guwahati during rainfall is not usable—it’s extremely polluted and dirty. Despite the mighty Brahmaputra flowing beside the city, Guwahati residents continue to suffer from a shortage of clean and potable water. Rapid urbanization, environmental pollution, and the depleting groundwater table have created a serious crisis. Data reveals that only 35% of Guwahati’s population has access to safe drinking water. The city still faces a daily deficit of 110 million litres of clean water. As a result, many residents have installed borewells or dug wells to meet their needs. But the quality of this water is questionable. Excessive and unplanned borewell drilling has led to groundwater depletion, negatively affecting the environment. Trees around these borewells are drying up and dying due to a lack of adequate water. Moreover, the small-scale agriculture that does exist in the city is often dependent on chemical fertilisers and pesticides, making surface water even more hazardous. The Guwahati Jal Board and the central government’s Jal Jeevan Mission still haven’t covered large parts of the city. This means that despite being flooded during rains, there is still a severe scarcity of safe drinking water in Guwahati. It’s a situation akin to thirst in the midst of water or burning near fire with no relief. Without a genuine and scientific approach to water purification, the outcry for a simple glass of clean drinking water will continue.
In Assam, floods during the monsoon season are a natural phenomenon. The state is rich in rivers and tributaries. However, over time, riverbeds have become shallower, reducing their capacity to carry more water. Even moderate rainfall can cause rivers to overflow, leading to breached embankments and causing floods. Besides the shrinking of riverbeds, human intervention—like altering the natural flow of rivers and building embankments—has worsened the flooding. When rainfall stops, river water levels fall, temporarily freeing people from flood threats. Interestingly, natural floods are not without benefits: they deposit fertile silt in agricultural fields, enriching the soil and boosting crop yields, which in turn benefits the economy. But recently, the problem of artificial or man-made floods is on the rise in Assam. In most of the cases, these are the result of our own irresponsible actions. The mad rush towards urban living has led people to ignore important considerations. For instance, when constructing a house in the city, most people don’t think about water drainage systems. Wastewater disposal is rarely planned properly. Often, domestic wastewater is simply discharged onto public roads, creating a mess for pedestrians. Even in places where there are drainage systems, they are choked with plastic bottles and trash—clear evidence of our careless behaviour. It’s our responsibility to keep these drains clean and ensure that water can flow freely. Blocking the drains and later organising protests or demonstrations achieves nothing. In fact, many cases of urban flooding are the direct result of such irresponsible actions.
Since we are the creators of artificial floods, we must also take responsibility for controlling them. The government must adopt a scientific outlook here. When someone buys a piece of land in an urban area, it requires government approval. Taxes and registration fees are paid. Thus, the government has an inherent responsibility toward the public. Roads, drainage systems, and proper infrastructure should be part of the government’s planning when an area becomes residential. A welfare state’s primary duty is to feel and address the problems of its citizens sincerely. This must be above vote-bank politics. The focus should be on providing real public welfare. While flyovers have helped reduce traffic congestion, the waterlogging beneath them during rains creates another set of problems that must also be addressed seriously. Before taking any such development steps, expert consultation is vital to ensure that solving one problem doesn’t create ten new ones. Ordinary citizens believe that solving Guwahati’s artificial flood problem isn’t too difficult. The key is to channel the water properly and release it into the Brahmaputra. For that, we need dedicated experts with a scientific approach and selfless intent. If tasks are done just for formality, without real planning, the problem will never be solved.
Let’s leave the city aside for a moment. In rural areas and small town centres, even a brief rain creates waterlogging on roads. People often refuse to let water drain or flow through their premises by building small barriers to block it. As a result, not only others but their own children are forced to wade through filthy water on their way to school and college. Houses built on elevated land around low roads create pools of stagnant water.
If people in these areas collectively plan before building their houses, if everyone takes the initiative to construct a small drain in front of their houses, at their own cost, to manage wastewater, then the problem of artificial floods can be solved easily. It will also have a positive impact on local businesses. For this to happen, people need to shed their ego and self-centredness and start thinking about collective well-being. Only our changed mindset can awaken the government to act. Otherwise, year after year, we will continue to suffer from the devastation of both natural and artificial floods.
Even if floods are acts of nature, the losses caused by them are largely man-made.