Water is essential for all forms of life and a key to the existence of all living beings. We can survive up to several weeks without food, but only a few days without water. Up to 60% of the human adult body is water. Geological investigation shows that water and other elements necessary for life were delivered to earth after its formation.
The World Water Day (WWD) is celebrated to raise awareness on the importance of water and its conservation, and a core focus of the observance is to support the achievement of Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 6: water and sanitation for all by 2030. The commemoration of WWD was proposed in Agenda 21 of the 1992 United Nations Conference on Environment and Development in Rio de Janeiro. In December 1992, the United Nations General Assembly adopted resolution A/RES/47/193 by which March 22 of each year was declared WWD. It is about taking action to tackle the global water crisis.
The theme of WWD 2021 is valuing water. According to the UN organization, about 2.2 billion people live without access to safe water. It is not just the price of a bottle of water, but much more than its price -- water has vast and multifaceted value for our homes, food, culture, health, education, economics, and the integrity of our natural environment. If we ignore any of these values, we end up making a mess of this limited and irreplaceable resource. Without a comprehensive understanding of water’s true, manifold value, we will be inept to protect this acute resource for the use of everyone.
Conservation of water is a paramount step to share the resource judiciously. Pressures on freshwater resources across the world are growing rapidly due to population growth, increased industrial activities, urbanization, and changing lifestyles. India like the other countries is severely affected by water shortage, which is expected to aggravate with increasing population and limited water conservation measures. Bengaluru, for example, made the news headlines of becoming the next Cape Town, to face the threat of running out of potable water. The urbanization of Bengaluru is now causing severe water pressure and receive less water per person. Most of the new and upcoming apartments in many Indian cities, including Goa, depend largely on tanker water for drinking and other recreational use.
Water pressures and the lack of adequate water of appropriate quality poses for people, industry, and ecosystems, have been time and again highlighted in several reports. However, the main objective behind underlining the issues remains the same “ water conservation is the need of the hour. There are many ways the authorities can alleviate water shortage issues. If the aquatic sources available on earth remain pollution-free, it is sufficient to meet the water requirements of the existing population of the world. For arresting water pollution, important water sources should be isolated from the public. Industrial units should dispose of waste /water only after its treatment. Bathing and other such activities should be prohibited near drinking water sources.
Water on the earth is not equally distributed, and the existing network also becomes a reason for the water crisis. There is maximum rainfall of the world in north-east India, whereas there are only a few inches of rainfall in the west. As a result, more than 60 per cent portion of the water of Brahmaputra and its companion rivers in the northeast flows to the sea, whereas rivers of western Rajasthan remain dry for most of the time in a year. By construction of surface water reservoirs and storage of excess water in them, supply can be made to water-scarce areas. This work can be accomplished by the development of water reservoirs and the interlinking of rivers.
Groundwater exploitation should be only in proportion to its recharging capacity. In India, the maximum groundwater is utilized for agriculture. Instead of growing crops requiring water according to agricultural climatic conditions, crops of commercial importance requiring more water are grown, due to which there is overexploitation of groundwater. Only with conscientious exploitation of groundwater, it can be proportionately conserved. For recharging groundwater, a necessary drainage area should be built. A large portion of water can be conserved by the adoption of modern methods of irrigation. Farmers should be advised to adopt sprinkler and drip irrigation methods to save 50 per cent of water. Industry water can be reused after processing. Recycling of water should be developed because normally industrial units dispose of the water on the ground surface after using it only once.
The water demand can also be regulated through population control and at the same time, qualitative deterioration of water can also be prevented by the population. The United Nations Organization has warned that in case of population control is not exercised, the whole world will have to face a serious water crisis. Trees bear drought conditions for a long duration as compared to crops, hence trees help in reducing the water demand and also useful retaining and recharging water bodies. Increasing deforestation during the last century, most of the rainwater drained into the seas without infiltrating into the ground. For example, a water crisis also developed during the last decade in Cherapunji, which gets the highest rainfall in the world, because forest cover has been destroyed there due to the mining of limestone.
Environment balancing is the main basis of water conservation. We have to change our mentality at the individual angle and conservation has to be worked on at each stage.
