It takes a lot of blues to stay green

Mintu Sarma

(sarmamintu9@gmail.com)

It is said that "a drop of water is worth more than a sack of gold to a thirsty man. Thousands have lived without love, not one without water"-W.H. Auden once quoted.

Water is the most fascinating substance found on the earth. It is known to exist in three different states like solid, liquid and gas which help to understand the particle nature of matter. We cannot imagine life on this planet without water. Water is life; people can survive hardly three days without water. Water provides no calories or organic nutrients to life than also it is vital for all known forms of life that depict its uniqueness.

Though nearly 70 per cent of the earth's surface is covered by water, only 3 per cent is freshwater. The interesting fact is that two-third of freshwater is captured by glaciers and polar ice. That means a little portion of freshwater is used for human welfare including industry and agriculture. Gradual increase of water demand in domestic and industrial sectors have developed water crisis in the counties. The World Economic Forum (WEF) ranked water crises as number one in its 2015 assessment of global risk. This crisis may trigger economic and social impacts across entire countries. On the other hand, the World Water Development Report 2019 reveals that water use has been increasing worldwide by about 1% per year since the 1980s and it is expected to continue the similar demand until 2050. According to this report over 2 billion people live in countries experiencing high water stress, and about 4 billion people experience severe water scarcity during at least one month of the year. The current world population is about 7.9 billion having an annual average increasing rate of 1.1%. If this growth rate continues for years, we can easily imagine the gruesome situation triggered by the water crisis.

Growing populations, increasing urbanization, frequent rainfall variability and water pollution are combining in many places to put even more pressure on potable water availability. The Central government has taken some projects to provide potable drinking water to every household, but the projects are dependent on its ability to address regional level issues along with sustainable management of water sources. For example, the Central government has set a target to provide drinking water to all by 2024 through Jal Jeevan Mission (JJM), the main challenges of this mission are 1) implementing sustainable conservation methods as the water demand is gradually increasing with the population. Scientific analysis reveals that the water demand after the end of 30 years will exceed the available water supply. 2) The presence of groundwater contaminants such as iron, Al3+, fluoride, Arsenic and other heavy metals in the ground will be a major challenge for JJM to provide safe drinking water to every household. 3) To provide potable drinking water in diverse climatic conditions and during seasonal hazards like floods and droughts additional infrastructure development must be required. On the other hand, unscientific drainage and sanitation system has augmented the groundwater contamination and possess health hazard to the mankind. According to the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB), there are 60 polluted rivers in the entire North East, Industrial effluent and coal mining are mostly responsible for it.

It is well known that water is the most important element for the preservation of life. Since water is a finite commodity, proper conservation and management can go a long way to help alleviate the impending shortage. The Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act 1974 was enacted by the Government of India to ensure that domestic and industrial effluents are not allowed to be discharged into watercourses without adequate treatment. Unfortunately, by infringing the water act by self-centred citizens generate toxic water bodies like the Bharalu river in Guwahati which is dangerous not only for humans but for aquatic animals also. To highlight the importance of freshwater as well as advocate the sustainable management of freshwater resources the world water day is observed on 22nd March and to raise the awareness of conservation of water among the citizens, groundwater week is observed between July 16th and 22nd in every year. Besides awareness programs, Government needs to enact some stringent policies including family planning, infrastructure development etc., to deal with increasing water demand based on population, agricultural usability and other water requirements for the sake of a thriving society.