The recent water crisis, wastage of water and unfulfilled human right to water

By Dr Susmita Priyadarshini

To check the misuse of water, Municipal  Authority  in Chandigarh  has decided recently to impose  a fine of  Rs. 2000 on anyone  found washing cars  or watering plants  between 5.30 am and 8.30 am . A special drive will be conducted  between April  15th and June 30th   to stop the wastage  of potable water. Further the water supply of repeat  offenders  may be discontinued. Private companies  have also come forward to help the Government of  Maharashtra  to lessen the effects of ongoing water crisis. Service provider company "Urban Clap"  has  announced that it will   fix leakages  across Mumbai homes  free of cost . Starting April 15, the company will invite  residents of the city to take a simple  step towards reducing  water  wastage in their homes- by filing all the leaking water taps and pipes in their homes, for free. This consciousness came at  time when the situation has already got out of hand.

In the early hours of 6th April, 2016 drinking water gushing through a leak in the major pipeline conveying water  from   Veeram  lake to the  Cheni city had submerged several streets. Precious drinking water was wasted. The leaked water got mixed with  sewage  that had been  let into storm water drains and stagted on Paraniputhur main road .This happens because  neither the state nor the local authorities take measures to prevent wastage of precious water though a good many no. of people are suffering due to water scarcity. 900  million  litres of water are being wasted  each day in  Mumbai. Attempts are now being made to solve the current potable water crisis in Maharashtra by running water trains.   But in order to fulfill the requirement of right to water, not only the wastage of water must be prevented but also its judicious use  must be ensured. It is noteworthy that the  right to water is  not enshrined in the  Indian Constitution as an  explicit fundamental right.  The fundamental right to water has evolved in  India   not through legal action but through judicial interpretation . The UN general Assembly and  UN Human Rights Council  passed the resolutions  in 2010 emphasising the separate  identity of right to water.  The right  to pollution free   water and right to access to safe drinking water  have been considered as a part of the  Right to    Life under article 21 of the Constitution of India. This  is because of the liberal and activist interpretation of the  fundamental right  to life  by the  Indian judiciary  both at the  state as well as the Centre  in several judgments.  In addition to article 21, article 39(b) of the Directive Principle of the State Policy  which the  Constitution declares to be  non- justiciable , recognizes the Principle of  Equal  Access  to the Material Resources  of the Community. In 2006, a public interest litigation was  decided by the Kerala High Court  regarding the  grievances of the people  of  West  Kochi  who had been clamouring  for supply of potable  drinking water  for more than three decades. Considering the fact that the petitioners have approached the Court as a last resort, the Court   held-"We have  no hesitation  to held that failure of the state to provide safe drinking water to the citizens in adequate quantities would amount to violation of the fundamental  right to life enshrined  in Article  21 of the Constitutions  of India  and would be a violation of  human rights. Therefore, every Government, which has its priorities right, should give  foremost importance to providing safe drinking water even at the cost of  other developmental  programmes. Nothing shall stand in its way whether it is lack of funds or  infrastructure. Ways and means have to be found out at all costs with outmost expediency instead of restricting  action  in regard to mere lip  service ".  Having recognized safe and clean drinking  water and sanitation  as a human right, pressure is now on  local and tiol authorities   to provide  a better infrastructure  for drains and clean water. The 73rd  and 74th  Amendments to the Constitution  of India  empowers  bodies  of local  self- governce  by the creation of Panchayats  in rural areas  and Municipal Councils in towns  to mage their own water resource- drinking water and water ways. But the attempt of all these years has made water an economic good from public good only, while failed miserably to ensure availability of fresh water    as well as to prevent wastage of precious resource. As their only consideration  is  supplying the water, neither the water magement nor the quality maintence get proper importance .The Bombay High court on  6th April 2016 termed watering cricket pitches as a crimil  wastage considering  the drought like situation  being faced by various other  districts of  Maharashtra. Stating that people were more important than the  cricket matches the HC suggested to change the venue of the upcoming  IPL  matches ( beginning  April 9, 2016).Later the Chief Minister Fadvis assured that potable water would not be provided for maintaining cricket grounds.  Earlier due to water scarcity in the  Thane district of Mumbai , the authorities  had to set up   a 24x7 hour control room and a toll free no. 1077 to register complaints against the  misuse or commercialization  of water. Stating that the right to water  is an integral part  of right  to life of Article 21 of the  constitution of India, the Bombay High court  directed   the Brihanmumbai  Municipal Corporation  ( BMC)  to come  up with  a policy to with a policy to  provide water  to the allegedly erected slums in  Mumbai; which came up  on or before  January  , 2000. The ruling noted-whether slum dwellers  are authorized dwellers  or otherwise  they had a right  to live in a  hygienic condition.  It further noted that supplying water  to illegal slum dwellers  does not  legitimize  them.  Mass poisoning at the hands of the government due to the  installation  of large  no. of pumps ignoring  the quality at Tapatjuri in gaon exemplifies the violation of human rights by  the Government itself. It is the Higher Judiciary  that has  consistently  upheld the  right over the past couple of decades in India.  Both access and quality are  integral parts of right to water. The prioritization  of access  over quality  obstructs the  fulfillment of whole right.  Unregulated and  over exploited ground water  extraction  has resulted  in ground  water depletion  and  the resultant  decline in water quality. Some well to do families   make private investment  to augment  quantity and quality  for their families. These solutions are not only far from optimal   but also impact heavily on the availability and quality of ground water.  But the Indian ground water laws allows  landowners to extract as much as they want. Ground water is inherently difficult  to monitor  and control    because  of its   invisibility that creates the illusion that  each well is  independent. But in reality, ground water  within an acquifer  interconnected   and similarly  acquifers  and rivers are also interconnected. Ignoring this reality, ground water and rivers  are regulated by different  agencies  in India .So, it leads to the  double counting of the  quantum  of resources. But the  most important thing  is that if we  run out of ground water millions of people  will lose  the means  to sustain themselves. Ignoring these facts, how can  the right to water be protected? It is true that idequate provision of water supply  due to  resource constraints  has arrived us into this kind of situation, but the major reason  for this  dismal  situation  is the misdirected  emphasis on  investing in  physical infrastructure  only . The Government has failed miserably  to ensure its  maintence  and sustaibility.   Water is wasted, polluted and used  inefficiently  in the state while  both the  underground  and overground  infrastructure   literally crumbling. Neither rain water harvesting nor  water reuse are getting  proper importance at the hands of the States.    In a 2012 report looking at water needs for  the next five  years, the  Planning Commission  of India said that in cities with a population of over 100,000 only 73% of people   were getting  sufficient water. Nearly  half  the water supply  was lost in distribution, as old water pipes fractured and broke it added. Till recently   there is  no fiscal instrument  available with the Central  Government which  can influence and compel  the states and cities to reform their urban  water and  services. So, existing institutions  have to be restructured and  strengthened for better service delivery and resource sustaibility.  We are not using the  power of politics  to improve  the situation. Elections  are not fought on this issues. The paradigm for water  supply is  to grab as much  from wherever possible while laying insufficient , leaky pipeline network and not  monitoring usage or billing. This must change to  maximise supply from  local resources such as  surface water and ground water. The key to better  services is through  improved magement and correct  pricing.  The future  of urban water  is linked to the economic and institutiol  reform  of urban local Government. Water magement  requires realistic way  of recovering  delivery cost. The maging water cannot be seen  as a sector  in isolation. It is embedded in the functioning  of local  Government. If   we can ensure  the sustaibility of  local govt. as an accountable  tier of  Government  , only then  we will able to  achieve  sustaibility of water  both as a service  and as a resource. Above all, there is a need  for a legislative framework  at the state  or union level that sets out the broad principles  and parameters guiding  all actors involved  in drinking water  supply ,  for instance  with regard to water quality. The minimum core obligation of the state flowing from the   right to water of every person  has  not yet been  be defined   and  specified  in India either by the legislature  or by the courts. So, it is time to  clearly recognize that a certain  quantity of water litres  per capita  per day or lpcd is  a most basic  human need and should  be seen as an inviolable part of the  fundamental right to water as guaranteed by the Article 21 of the Constitution.  

(The writer is an Assistant Professor, Economics, DCB Girls' College, Jorhat-1, Assam)