Thousands have lived without love, not one without water. ~ W.H. Auden
The term, “Panch Tatva” is often mentioned in the scriptures of ancient history and civilizations. This term refers to the “five elements” of which this universe & our body are made up of that are Earth, Water, Fire, Air, Sky & Space. We can clearly understand the imperative of water even if we consider our ancient thoughts. Water has been the essential driving force for humanity & other living beings. Without it, we could barely survive a few days and only by changing the relationship with it we can avoid the ongoing & upcoming water crisis.
The entire humanity has been witnessing an increasing imbalance due to lesser and lesser access to water. Let us take the instance of the US – recently, the world has seen the heart-wrenching disaster caused by major wildfires in one part of the country and devastating situations like floods in the opposite part of the country. Furthermore, in the last four decades, drought has devastated more people than any other natural disaster in the world. Like in Somalia, it has posed a far graver situation as in there drought has consumed the country since 2015. They say it is ‘the Elder Giant’ that has caused 50% of the population near the brink of famine, which has killed many of the livestock. Farming alone consumes 70% of the freshwater of the planet which is a huge source of greenhouse gas emissions second only to industrial production. Consider the example of India itself – 60-70 per cent of the working people are indulged in farming utilizing one of the most fertile lands of the globe i.e., the Alluvial Plains. The Ganges which is sacred to nearly 1 billion Hindus has been among the most polluted waterways on the planet. It has been the source of water for nearly more than 500 million people but is contaminated with virus & bacteria that causes life-threatening waterborne diseases like cholera, typhoid etc. 1.6 billion gallons of raw sewage & industrial waste pour into it every single day. The melting of ice caps and glaciers has caused the loss of aquatic life. And messing up with the aquatic life is also a big loss to us. In some areas in the US, fishes and all are polluted and thus are prohibited to be eaten by children and elderly people. The Andes & the Himalayas outsource drinking water for one-fifth of humanity.
Dwindling access to water has driven migrations in many countries. Nearly 3.5 million people, mostly children die every year from water-borne diseases. 2 billion people don’t have access to safe water. NASA has indicated 7 areas across the globe lose nearly 300 billion tones of ice every year. As early as 2025, half of the population would be there, where there isn’t enough water according to the experts. The danger posed by the looming water crisis is listed by World Economic Forum as among the top ten global risks to humanity just below weapons of mass destruction but above natural disasters like volcanoes and earthquakes.
Water’s responsibility as an entity is to support life and interfere with it that is by polluting it and damning it. stopping it from flowing and doing what it should be doing So basically, we are interfering with its job and that’s the water’s right and we are breaching that right. That’s a complete injustice. Experts say one solution to the looming water crisis is a radical shift in how we choose to see and value water. Not as a resource or commodity, but as a life-sustaining force essential for human and planetary health. Educational awareness must be spread among our people about it. New conservation techniques along with the traditional rainwater harvesting technique are imperative. Pollution control and better sewage management should be crucial approaches taken by governments. We as the people along with the governments should be accountable for their proper implementation. Surely climate change has given rise to this situation but a much stronger force that is we have also been equally responsible for this. And it is only on our shoulders, the burden of providing the ecosystem with a better place to call our planet Earth- the mother of all beings.
By Shubham Pandey. The Writer is a Defence Aspirant.