Water Politics

Its amazing how the actions of one party that is less than 2 years old can get the whole nation to sit up and watch by just changing the policy on how water is billed to the residents of that state. With just that one move they manage to get prime time TV debates and every other state trying their best to replicate that model although it should not really be too hard given the amount of money each state already spends on subsidies. Water is becoming increasingly a resource that needs to be carefully consumed with a growing population and greater pollution of the existing water bodies it is becoming harder and harder to find cheaper sources of water.

Countries like Canada with the 5 great lakes have the largest body of fresh water available at their fingertips and since they are all glacier fed lakes they are perpetually being refreshed with more fresh water. The Arab countries with the desert and all the development taking place have to use desalination plants to meet their water needs. Every drop of fresh water is expensive to make and even then its not the very best quality of water and its at times cheaper to get gas for your car than to buy water.

India lies somewhere in the middle of these 2 countries - we neither have abundant water nor do we have no water. Its just that we manage to politicise the issue of water. Whether it is water sharing agreements between states or the price of water in the urban areas its all politicized and this trend is dangerous. Serious effort should be made to manage the water we have and use it efficiently or else our future generations are going to pay a severe price for water.