Water is one of Five Taoist Elements. Water covers around 71% of the Earth that means around 3/4th of the Earth is covered with Water bodies. On Earth, 96.5% of water is found in Seas and Oceans, 1.7% in ground water 1.7% in glaciers and 0.001% as Vapor in air. By this calculation we know that we mostly have Salt water available on Earth and around 1% is available for Human Consumption.
Water Crisis;this is just not a word. It’s a real deal and its happening. We have many questions what is Water Crisis and why it happens? Basically, Water Crisis in Layman term is the lack of sufficient available water resources to meet demands of the users within a region. There are two mechanisms that cause Water Crisis- Physical and Economical Water Scarcity. Former is result of inadequate natural water resources to supply and later is a result of ill management.
In India, currently there is Water Crisis in Shimla. Every Ecological problem in India has a familiar lifecycle. No one takes a note when things just start but once the threshold is reached it becomes like a Virus that’s impossible to contain. Residents of Shimla are complaining that there is no water available to them in their taps for the 7th consecutive day. There have been few protests in front of CM Mr Jai Ram Shankar‘s residence. Angry and strived residents are alleging that water is being diverted to VIP areas and big Hotels.
Residents have taken this issue to Twitter and asked tourists to not visit Shimla. Shimla’s daily requirement during peak tourist season is around 45 MLD and currently, the water supply fell to 22 MLD. Shimla is wilting in the middle of peak tourist season. For quite some time now, there had been a decline in snow and rainfall in Mountainous regions due to the Climate change. Shimla being the British Summer Capital of India still has the Colonial-era water system which was designed to serve around 20,000 people but Shimla now is home of around 120000 people with the extra of around 75000 tourists every year. Poor Infrastructure and Planning are only compounding the problem.
So how is Shimla handling this situation? Locals are protesting in front of Chief Minister’s gate; HP CM stated that his Government is tackling the situations and already the review meetings had been held with the team; Himachal Pradesh High Court stepped in; Fourteen Water Tankers and eight pick up vehicles have been pressed on duty by Shimla Municipal Corporation; The City has been divided into 3 zones for equal water distribution; Aggravated residents are asking tourists to not visit Shimla; Hoteliers are confirming that there have been cancellations during the peak tourist season.
Now is the time we should understand the importance of Resource Utilization and upgrading the planning process, else it will be late and our next generations will be cursing us as there won’t be any resource left for them to use.
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