"If there is magic on this planet, it is contained in WATER".
Water, like religion and ideology, has the power to move millions of people. Since the very birth of human civilization, people have moved to settle close to water.We need it for drinking, for cooking, for washing, for food, for industry, for energy, for transport, for rituals, for fun, for life. And it is not only we humans who need it; all life is dependent on water to survive.
Prevailing conditions need our attention:
Now, we stand on the brink of a global water crisis. The two major legacies of the 20th Century - the population and technological explosions - have taken their toll on our water supply.More and more freshwater sources are being used-up and contaminated. Modern technologies have allowed us to harness much of the world's water for energy, industry and irrigation - but often at a terrible social and environmental price - and many traditional water conservation practices have been discarded along the way.
Today, the condition is even more worse. More and people are lacking access to safe drinking water and with the current trend of water depletion, I can assure that a day will come when we have no option than to kill others to calm our thirst. Yes, this is true and all this has already started. Due to acute water crisis in Madhya Pradesh, people are bound to sell their blood in exchange of water tankers. Ishwar Singh Thakur, and his group of voluntary blood donors are selling blood and need water tankers in exchange to fulfil the demand of water in their hometown Dhar, MP.
Some Facts and figures:
If this is not sufficient enough for you to understand the prevailing conditions of water crisis, here are some of the facts that will be an eye opener for you.
- More than 2 billion people worldwide live in regions facing water scarcity.
- Contamination denies some 4 billion people access to clean water, and 3.3 billion people have no water sanitation services.
- In developing countries an estimated 90 per cent of wastewater is discharged without treatment into rivers and streams. Each year there are about 280 million cases of water-related diseases, with some 10-15 million deaths.
- Every 15 seconds, a child dies from a water-related disease.
- At any given time, 65% of the world's hospital beds are occupied by patients suffering from a water-related disease.
- 98% of water-related deaths occur in the developing world.
- 90% of all deaths caused by water-related diseases are children under 5 years of age, mostly in developing countries.
- Less than 1% of the world's fresh water (or about 0.007% of all water on earth) is readily accessible for direct human use.
- 6,000 children die every day from disease associated with lack of access to safe drinking water.
- In 1998, 308,000 people died from war in Africa, but more than two million (six times as many) died from water related disease.
- Over 60 percent of all water projects fail and less than five percent of projects are visited, and far less than one percent have any longer-term monitoring.
- At any one time, more than 65% of the poor in the developing world are ill from causes related to water scarcity.
Mismanagement is the main cause:
I think these facts are sufficient enough to tell u the horrifying condition before us. But researches reveal that the water crisis is not due to lack of water resources rather due to mismanagement. This mismanagement is both from the part of us and the government policies. According to a UN report, there is enough freshwater in the world, but its uneven distribution between developing and developed countries leaves one fourth of the world's population without access to safe drinking water. All the fault is not on the government side, we are equally punishable.
Although many analyst believe that the current demand will outstrip world's fresh water resources by 2050, I think its not all over yet. We can still make serious efforts on our part to prevent the misuse of water resources.
Solutions on the part of government:
There are many solutions available to prevent these water crisis, viz,
- Rain water harvesting
- Aquifer protection and recharge
- Wastewater recycling
- Watershed management and irrigation
Further government should follow the rules and regulations to properly distribute water among various regions in India and should take care of sanitary conditions as well. Government is wasting a lot of money on military amendments and other unnecessary researches. We all are aware of the fact that China has deployed his military resources on Indo-China border and can attack us any time, but it is equally true that the war will not take place between both the countries because both know that in case of war there will be nothing left except mass destruction. So, govt. of India should now pay greater attention towards the water crisis prevailing in India and should take protective measures to improve the condition.
What can we do:
Well, this is too much of a lecture blaming government policies. This post of mine is not to blame government rather than to blame us all. Yes. We all know that the problem is worse and by looking at these facts it appears to be the worst. We all know what can we do on our part, how can we prevent water wastage at our level, viz, closing the taps when not in use while brushing our teeth, don't let tap open while watering your gardens, don't take bath by showers rather use a bucket for that, etc, etc, and even we know that if we don't do this now, we don't have good future, but keep your hands at your heart and just ask to yourself, how many of these rules did I follow regularly. I can assure you that the answer will not be a positive one.
Its my humble request to you all, that please pay attention to the ongoing problem and try to prevent wastage as much as you can. Today such a condition has come that if you waste a bucket full of water, then its is equivalent to wasting a bottle full of Human BLOOD and wasting 5 buckets of water means that you have killed a person just because you have snatched life giving water from him.
Remember this:
I know a simple theory that the more you save, the more you get. If we could save one-fifth of the total water that we use daily, and according to current trend if we have 50 more years of water resources available then up to end of that 50 years we would successfully extend 10 more happy years full of water. YES, just by reducing our water consumption to 4/5th of the total we could have 10 more years full of water. If we could give our mother EARTH just one extra day to live, then according to me we have proved our birth on this Magic Planet.
So, its my humble request to you all to save water in a best way u can and just save yourself and many more people on this earth.
