Water, Water Nowhere

6^th September, 2016

West Lafayette, IN

The Cauvery water dispute between Karnataka & Tamil Nadu is not new and is similar to water sharing problems between many other states in the country. Although morality demands states to share water with each other, the reluctance of successive governments, farmers’ unions and other groups to do so is not completely unjustifiable, because Karnataka itself does not have enough water for its people. But, solely blaming poor rains is absurd. In case of Cauvery, unplanned mushrooming of Bangalore city, is in my opinion, the major cause for the current scarcity of water. The water consumption of Bangalore has overshot nominal levels, creating a scarcity for farmers in the Mysore- Mandya belt. The legal right over the water by Tamil Nadu and its subsequent release will now only add to the vows and create a strain on the entire region.

This time, following the court ruling, we can envisage the taps in Bangalore to go dry. One may blame the Tamil Nadu Govt for ingratiating with the Central Govt for overruling Karnataka’s appeals in Supreme Court, one may also allege the lawyer representing Karnataka Govt of cosying with Tamil Nadu, however, one must also acknowledge poor urban planning of Bangalore City, greed and most of all lackadaisical attitude of Bangaloreans which has brought us to this pathetic state. We must acknowledge that the major chunk of the problem is of our own creation.

• The city knows nothing of rain water harvesting or ground water recharging and no strong initiatives have been launched to make them mandatory. 
• Indiscriminate exploitation of groundwater by property developers has left the ground water table dry in most parts.  
• Known once upon a time for its lakes, Bangalore now has only a handful of lakes left, with its water unusable and the lake area aesthetically unclean for anything else, and we can now see high rise apartment complexes on dried up lakes.
• Use of potable water by its people for car cleaning, gardening and other such mindless uses have no logical backing.

  

You may be thinking of other such (and maybe better) points, I am sure.

Bangalore must start developing alternate water sources for its sustenance right now. If we continue to grow without paying heed to sustenance, we will be the first city to crumble under the pressures of nature. The beautiful city is already stripped off its tree cover for which it was once famously known, the air pollution levels are dangerously high, the roads are perennially in bad shape, the traffic congestion and garbage handling are no joking matter. But if the city goes dry on water, then it will top all the list of vows. Our ‘swalpa adjust maadkoli’ attitude may make us bear with anything else, but definitely not water scarcity. Its time and Bangalore must mobilize right now.

The same may be the case with other cities, towns, villages in my country. Sustainable development is needed at all levels, no doubt. But, I am a Bangalorean and I am pained by this metamorphosis having gone wrong.