Environment Day

It's the World Environment Day today and the focus this year is on Deserts and Desertification (a process by which fertile land gradually turns into desert).

So I will write about something else instead - Water! I won't talk about how desperately I am awaiting the monsoon showers to hit Hyderabad and take away this heat, coz that would be digressing from the point. :)

Water scarcity may be the most underappreciated global environmental challenge of our time. Various agencies continue to voice concern over the ability of developing countries to quench the thirst of their rising population. India has still not managed the dream of clean drinking water for all - something the government has been aiming for ever since Independence. Not only have we been unable to provide potable drinking water, we have also been pumping out ground water (for farming, industry, etc) faster than it can be replenished. Monsoon rain clouds may roll in every June to September but the poorly maintained water reservoirs mean that most of the rain water is lost. Today an estimated one quarter of India'’s crops are being grown using underground aquifers.

Unless we start managing water in a smarter manner, the World Bank reports that "India will have neither the cash to maintain and build new infrastructure, nor the water required for the economy and for people."” The water crunch will make itself felt most on food supplies. Agriculture is the world's biggest user of water -- it takes at least 2,000 liters to produce enough food for one person for one day. Not enough water will mean that farming will get curbed and with the population growth not willing to take a rest, we will become dependent on food imports again.

But this problem is not confined to India alone, across the world countries are struggling to find clean water for their people. Infact, it is estimated that about half of the world population will be "stressed" for water (less than 1,700 cubic meters each of water per year, generally considered the minimal threshold for acceptable living standards) by 2015 (And we know where most of this "half" resides).

The water crunch has also started creating tensions between nations and within nations. There is already a great deal of bickering among the states that share water (Punjab - Harayana, Tamil Nadu - Karnataka for example), and the tensions will only get worse.

Water -- rather than oil -- could become the world's next big catalyst for conflict.