Now that India is the world’s fourth-largest economy, we can soon start hoping for running water in this city
A water pipeline that burst leaving behind a huge crater on Marine Drive earlier this year. FILE PIC
A lot of people across Bombay had no access to water over the previous month. There were multiple cuts announced for various reasons by the BMC, but no one questioned them because we all know how fickle those ancient pipelines can be. Friends of mine who live in towers were sad that they couldn’t shower after 9 am. They also expressed some concern about their drivers and maids not having running water for days, but I was pleased to see there were no sings of panic. Everyone just accepted this scarcity and the fact that their 2-BHKs costing Rs 2.2-crore didn’t come with 24 hours of running water.
I grew up hoping some funds would be diverted from hoardings and ‘I Love Kanjurmarg’ selfie points towards fixing leaking pipes, but decades have passed with no such projects announced, so I avoid thinking about them. I often wonder why this isn’t a priority in what we are constantly told is the nation’s financial capital, but maybe there are just more important things for the government to focus on. It’s also possible that this is being worked on by some new state-funded organisation we haven’t heard of yet, because we know how the government of Maharashtra is heavily into under-promising and over-delivering.
To be fair though, a lot of people have been issuing warnings about water. It’s just that their messages aren’t cutting through the noise about who is eating non-vegetarian food or marrying outside their community. At some point, I suspect there will be some urgency with which this is addressed, possibly after this whole AQI distraction is dealt with. This makes sense because we should first fix everyone’s ability to breathe before worrying about whether they have enough to drink.
I was also surprised to find that Bombay received an average of just 5.37 hours of water per day a year ago, according to a report published by the Praja Foundation. It added that only 4 per cent of the city received round-the-clock supply. These findings were made public but didn’t generate many questions, probably because the people most affected have little time for newspapers. Slum-dwellers received 45 litres per capita per day, apparently, as opposed to 135 litres allocated to everyone else. When one is occupied with the business of survival, who has the time to worry about why some people get water and others don’t?
Another thing that isn’t generating as much attention as it should is groundwater use. It’s the sort of thing that should be tracked the way we track flight delays or the cost of popcorn at movie theatres, but I have yet to come across any sign that this is being addressed at all, let alone that it is being taken seriously. India’s groundwater usage supposedly surpasses that of China and the United States combined, which sounds like a big deal. If, as several scientists have pointed out, the water table has been steadily dropping over the past few decades, I keep wondering why more people aren’t panicking. This isn’t like the weakening rupee, after all, which can be laughed off by bureaucrats as good for India’s economy. I look forward to the skill with which they explain why running out of water will also be beneficial.
Still, the only thing giving me hope is the economy, which I am told is bigger and better than ever. Yes, the World Bank says that 163 million Indians lack access to safe drinking water, and that 500 children under the age of five die from diarrhea each day in the country. It also says that India has 18 per cent of the world’s population and just 4 per cent of its water resources, but all this money pouring in should be enough to tackle these challenges within a year or two, so I am optimistic.
There’s another reason why I think we can stop worrying. I am convinced that the government has a plan because even though more than half our rivers are highly polluted, new data centres have been announced. Consumption of water for these technological behemoths is set to double from 150 billion litres this year to 358 billion litres by 2030. In other words, if you think running water is a problem now, you just aren’t blessed with the kind of foresight our politicians have in abundance.
Maybe we should all do our part by drinking less water and bathing once a week because, if we don’t, how will we have access to Instagram and ChatGPT-powered posts for LinkedIn?
When he isn’t ranting about all things Mumbai, Lindsay Pereira can be almost sweet. He tweets @lindsaypereira
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The views expressed in this column are the individual’s and don’t represent those of the paper.
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