Story of water: The same wherever you go

Story of Water: The Same Wherever You Go

By Jayprakash Panwar 'JP' It was a stunning experience for me,when I arrived in Australia l in November 2006. In the pre-academic course, my teacher asked me to write an essay about water and Australia. During the literature review, I came across a number of facts and figures about the water crises in Australia. It was mind boggling that before coming to a developed country like Australia, I did not have any idea that I would again come across the harsh reality of water crisis.
Australia is the driest continent on Earth. Scientists warn that by 2070, Australian temperature will increase 6 degrees centigrade. Australia is also a high water consuming country (2,60,000 gallons of fresh water per person per year). For Sydney, itself, which is one of the world's largest cities, the Australian government is planning to invest a sum of $ 195 million to overcome the increasing crisis of water. The federal government will also release $ 1.5 billion for new water projects. Similarly, in Perth, government has completed a water desalination project, which will cost more than twice what people usually pay for water in other parts of the country. Another aspect of the story is that the consensus of the majority (except farmers) is to reduce or stop the irrigation practices along the Murray Darling River, which is the largest agricultural and fertile area in Australia and consumes 70 % of the fresh water.
"I have been living in Canberra for the last twenty-five years but I never have experienced such hot weather and water restrictions in my life before," says Professor Margret Duncley. This year, the Australian Capital Territory of Canberra imposed the third water restriction, which means no one can wash the car, fill the swimming pool or pond and cannot water lawns and gardens. Now global warming is become a political issue in Australia.
However, I want to start this story from my childhood days in my mountain village. Although, my village Punar is situated on the left bank of Alaknanda River, we have always have faced a water crisis. We had a government water scheme operated by the Jal Sansthan but it was never reliable. Finally, we had to go to fetch water from a natural source, which was one kilometre away from my home. Punar also had large irrigated agricultural land, which was among the most famous agricultural terraces (Maletha village near Srinagar Garhwal, Gauchar in district Chamoli) in the Alaknanda river valley and Rama Sarai in Yamuna valley of Uttarakhand. The water source for irrigation was Sujugi Gad (a perennial water stream) which was a part of the Hariyali water shed. The irony is that in the last twenty years of rapid and haphazard development of mountain towns, the demand for potable water has increased dramatically. As a result, the available water of Sujugi Gad has been sucked up by the nearby town (Rudraprayag) through a number of thick pipelines and there no water remains for irrigation of agricultural land in Punar village. The agricultural land in Punar, which once fed the village is now dry agricultural land and much of this fertile land has been sold and people have become dependent on the market. Today, my village people get water only for one hour in a day through a water scheme.
I grew up with the above experiences and after completion of schooling in my village, I went to HNB Garhwal University, Srinagar for further study. Srinagar is also situated on the bank of Alaknanda River. Here, for the first time I experienced the one hour delivery of potable water. If you missed the time, you missed the water. Many times I have had the experience that, if sometimes electricity failed or the water pump did not work, the Alaknanda river bank became crowded with people fetching water, washing clothes and also using it for toilet and bath. During the water crises, I also saw that people started searching for old natural water sources near Khola village and elsewhere.
After finishing my study at the university, I joined a voluntary organisation.
At Anjanisain, Tehri, there was a large gathering of people from different parts of Uttarakhand, gathered for a consultation on the water crises in the mountains. For the first time I came to realise and understand how big the problem was. People think that the mountains of the Himalaya are home to snow and glaciers. Himalaya is also known as the water tower of the world. The common perception is that mountain people don't have a crisis of water. However, when I started visiting villages and towns of Uttarakhand, the picture was gloomy and situation was disastrous. I visited eighty villages of Gairsain block of Chamoli district. It falls along the Ram Ganga river of Dhodhatoli catchment area. I found that most of the villages were under severe water crisis. Hygiene and sanitation was disastrous during the summers. I also came to know that during the 1970s, Sarkot village of Gairsain experienced 72 deaths due to cholera and diarrhea. The main reason was using dirty water for drinking. When I went to visit the villages of Pauri district, I found that people were migrating from the villages; they did not have the option to live in the villages without water. The natural water sources were drying and the government schemes were not reliable. I found the situation to be the same in Talla Nagpur region of district Chamoli and Hindolakhal and Pratpnagar blocks of Tehri where I was closely working with more than 200 villages. Once, I went to see the Bagwaan water lift scheme, which feeds half of the Hindolakhal block. Here, I came to know that there was no water chemist to test the water quality. The post had been vacant for the last six or more years. The water department did not have enough 'alum' to clean the water especially during rain or flood. It causes diarrhea every year in Hindolakhal block and has also killed as well as still killing people every year.
Once, at a meeting of the Himalaya Bachao (Save Himalaya movement) in Srinagar Garhwal, the eminent environmentalist Sunder Lal Bahuguna predicted that the next World War would begin with a water crisis.
However, I have found this a civil war in Uttarakhand. I have come across a number of court cases among villages on water issues and bloody fighting to grab a water source. The famous SWAJAL scheme of Uttarakhand government, supported by the World Bank just dropped out in many villages due to water source controversy. The problem of potable water is just not confined to one specific area, it is now a worldwide crises. During a visit to Chaipang (a tribal community of Nepal) villages of Dhadhing district of Nepal, I had experienced that during summer season, Chaipangi people leave their home for water, and live near the river and streams till the next rain.
On the one hand, where there is a gloomy picture, on the other hand we have age old and tested coping mechanisms. The traditional water management strategy is one of the solutions that do not need much effort and capital. We need to revive and repair old water sources in the villages. Once, at a water conservation seminar in Dehradun, the eminent environmentalist and journalist, the late Dr Anil Agarwal (founder-editor Down To Earth) had given a stunning presentation that the future of water would depend on how much we could catch the rain water and how much we respect traditional wisdom. He was much concerned about global warming. He was a great inspiration for me. I have devoted my first documentary entitled 'Himalaya Par Aapada' (Disaster in Himalaya) to him. Furthermore, my water story went ahead with making a research documentary (Hydrological studies on Gangotri Glacier) for the National Institute of Hydrology (NIH), Roorkee, where I experienced the impact of global warming on the glacial systems of the Himalaya.
Later on, I came across the efforts of Dr Harshwanti Bisht a famous mountaineer and came to know the madness of the Kawarias destruction of Bhoj trees (an endangered species) in Gangotri - Gaomukh glacier area. In the developed countries, global warming is now a big political issue and it is starting to have a great impact and put pressure on developing countries. If we want to save water, we need to start working out from the source.

Reference: Published in Garhwal Post -

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