Scarcity of potable water
- Hueiyen Lanpao Editorial :: July 24 2015 -
Manipur is one of the few states reeling under shortage of pure drinking water.
People in Washington, Tokyo or Beijing will be horrified to learn that there is no tap water in the rest of the state and irregular supply of tap water in and around Imphal is undependable.
Besides its purity is questionable. Those who have money to spend have been depending on bottled water.
From time to time sale of some brands of bottled water was banned by the authority for an unspecified period when it was found that the bottled water was polluted, hence, posed a health hazard.
But the rural poor have to depend on community ponds, rivers and other water holes which are undoubtedly the breeding grounds of many water borne diseases.
But then this violation of human rights and exposure to many deadly diseases is not unique in Manipur alone.
There are many backward villages in India where the poor have to slake their thirst side by side with cattle.
The number of the sick and the dead must be exceptionally high in India due to paucity of pure drinking water.
The water supply in Manipur is regulated by rains.
When there is a drought like situation most of the taps, sources of water for drinking and irrigation go bone dry.
The dry spell continues till the arrival of the seasonal rains.
Under the circumstances, the government and numerous NGOs should give stress on rain water harvesting to cope with the recurring shortage of water for drinking and other domestic purposes.
Some enterprisng persons at remote and hard-to-access places like Parbung have successfuly harvested rain water and they do not have to depend on other sources throughout the year.
Water taps have also become a source of diseases since consumers bore holes everywhere.
Contaminated ditch water, various insects and rubbish are sucked into the pipes only to be flushed out when there is water pressure.
As it concerns the life and death of the people all sections should join hands to ensure easy availability of pure drinking water.
Delay will cost more human lives.
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