Wealth Means Water

Sourav Raina *

"In next few decades the term 'wealth' will be replaced by 'water'."

A few days back I have shifted to Jammu for my professional devoir and found out that things are not alike as they were in my academic days, six years back. Since last couple of months, I haven't got a 'house on rent', for which I can say the supply of water is adequate, that too in a place which is in the vicinity of Himalaya. It concerns me, what will happen after six years or so?

Days are not far when the world will witness the parturition of "Water Terrorism," existence of "Water-Banks" and wars like ancient times to nab water bodies. Water is life; it's beyond imagination even to think of survival without water. Even an average hamburger takes 2400 liters of water to produce.

Freshwater is scarce on the planet. Though 70 percent of the earth is covered by water but only 2.5 percent of it is fresh and drinkable. Even then, just 1 percent of freshwater is easily accessible. As a whole, only 0.007 percent of the planet's water is available for 7 billion people. Just imagine how precious the water is.

Over the past hundred years, the world's population has increased 3 times but on the contrary, the consumption of water has been increased by 6 times. Which is continuously happening, may be worsening due to factors like climate change and mismanagement of water. By 2025, around 1.8 billion people will live in areas plagued by water scarcity and there would be the "Water Gap" of 40% between supply and demand by 2030.

Today, nearly one billion people in developing countries do not have access to clean water, which includes 358 million people only in Africa. More than 840,000 people die each year from water-borne diseases, which is more or equivalent to the city of San Francisco.

While the paradise on earth, Kashmir is struggling to its ecological imbalance and worst floods in decades, NASA is predicting an upcoming 'megadrought' in some parts of North America. In Indian sub-continent the conditions are even worst, according to a UN report; coastal areas in Asia will be among the worst affected by climate change. Millions of people across East, South, and Southeast Asia will be affected by flooding, droughts, famine, increases in the costs of food and energy, and rising sea levels.

India has only 1,000 cubic meters of water per person which is far below to the 'water-stress' mark of 1,700 cubic meters per person. According to a report of WHO, 97 million people in India lack access to clean water and 21 percent of country's communicable diseases are transmitted due to the usage of impure water.

In a report published in 2013, the Asian Development Bank declared Pakistan as one of the most 'water-stressed' country in the world. According to Mr. Khawaja Muhammad Asif, minister of water and energy, "One of the major reasons behind water crises in Pakistan is due to country's poor water storage facilities. We have built our last dam 46 years ago while India has built 4000 dams since then."

Isn't it already late or we still having some scope to invest in water, after all we cannot produce water out of wealth? Saving water can save our future and our generations. Choice is ours.

"So the question now is whether we will have the courage to act before it's too late. And how we answer will have a profound impact on the world that we leave behind not just to you, but to your children and to your grandchildren."
-US President Barack Obama (Georgetown Address, June 2013)