Water Woes:

May 18/2011: Unknown to many city dwellers, the state of Orissa is currently reeling under a terrible water shortage. Opening a faucet means seeing a gush of fresh water flowing out. That may be true in some parts of most urban areas of the state. Not all towns, even district headquarters, could boast of continuous or sufficient water supply for majority of the residents. Almost all municipalities are failing to create basic facilities to supply potable water. This is in spite of adequate funds being made available for water supply and sanitation projects. We shall not deal with sanitation as of now although government is generally clubbing water supply along with sanitation projects.

There are many reasons for such abysmal failures in water supply systems in urban Orissa. First, the number of consumers is not properly counted. Too many illegal connexions all over have made the job difficult. When funds are being sanctioned for new projects, the existing facilities vis a vis the number of present consumers as also the wait listed ones are taken into consideration. These facts show that presently available quantities and the systems in operation are adequate for the existing and legally proposed consumers. The illegal beneficiaries are not taken into account. Thus most urban areas are deprived of central government funds to revamp and remodel water supply systems. Apart from this, the greed of elected members of Municipal councils and their Executive Officers are damaging the cause even further. Political persons are unwilling to execute a rigid drive to dismantle the network that allows theft of water by house owners, shopkeepers and small factories in the apprehension that it would alienate their voters. On the other side, the executive wing is more than willing to comply with this idea as they make the most of the money from illegal connexions which are known but go undetected by the field staff. So, it can safely be said that due to lack of a strong political will, most law abiding (read bill paying) consumers are deprived of accessing a precious wealth such as water for no fault of theirs. More important, further funds are being sent back unutilized as the state is unable to show the critical need of revitalizing the supply systems because rampant unaccounted theft is directly hampering growth. Also, due to no foresight at any level, this state has been falling far behind on water conservation issues. No visible steps are being taken to implement reuse, desalination or rain water harvesting mechanisms. Water bodies are being filled up by greedy real estate frogs (sharks object to be associated with such scum) to build ugly concrete monsters. Indiscriminate boring of deep wells by private house owners go unchecked.  No one has a policy drawn up, neither is there any public resentment against such activities. While water meter readings are getting dearer, supply side is drying up.

With our rivers getting slimmer or totally drying up for most parts of the year, the situation is even more precarious for rural Orissa. A state known for its abundant water resources, today’s Orissa is parched and thirsty. Planners should not be callous. This is easier said than done. Government officials are allowing new industries to establish private water utilization projects without taking into consideration the side effects on neighboring areas. Single handedly, the Water Resource department has damaged the supply of this life sustaining natural resource for the citizens of Orissa for decades to come. It has, at its own sweet will, jeopardized the future of the citizens of this state. It allows indiscriminate suction of ground water by industries and has not put in place any verifiable mechanism for ensuring proper discipline. This is prompting most industries to go in for bore wells of massive depths and dimensions, way beyond their permitted numbers. In turn, this excessive drawl of ground water is drying up shallow wells and ponds of nearby villages. People are left literally parched.

Along with this kind of an inhuman treatment of the rural people by the concerned department of the state government comes the other abominable character of the local engineers who are in charge of medium and minor irrigation projects. Seeing the attitude of the higher ups of the government bureaucracy, these engineers are playing to the tune of local industrial units or other large water consumers. In this kind of a severe and crippling summer as observed this year, water is not being released into minor canals by these engineers of the Water Resources department. All this is being worked out just to please industrial units who, obviously, bribe engineers to hold back water in this scarce season for their (industry’s) use. Without water in the canals, small bundhs (water storage through check dams) and other water bodies have already dried or are quickly drying up. Hand pumps are becoming defunct due to further fall in levels of ground water.

In the beginning of this second decade of the 21st century, it speaks volumes about the quality of the governance system of Orissa. That it is incapable of taking care of its citizens and deprives them of water, in a state reputed to posses 11% fresh water available in this sub continent, is indeed sad. Greed and opportunism apart, that there is no policy planning in place for future use of an all important human life sustaining finite resource such as water, should not only amaze but scare the wits out of any right thinking person.