As the experts in the subject tell us that we have sufficient water for many decades to come, and even beyond, the situation on ground is way too different.
We have complaints from villages, from towns, and from parts of city that the shortage of drinking water has made people’s lives very difficult.
Now the two things don’t match, and the only explanation for this mismatch is that our management of water resources, and our governance in terms of supplying water to households are lacking somewhere. A cursory look at the water resources in Kashmir can tell us that we should never be facing a problem when it comes to drinking water facilities.
In the length and breadth of Kashmir we have enough resource that can be tapped to provide good drinking water to all the households. Add to it the fact that governments announce different water supply schemes time to time, and the funds for that are released.
What then are the bottlenecks. Whose inefficiency is responsible for the problems that are faced by common people here. Someone needs to do a detailed survey of this and highlight the actual fault-lines. Since water is the most important resource, and its importance in coming decades in only going to increase, it is crucial to take a professional assessment of our water resources, and the supply systems.
If there are systemic failures we need to correct them. If there is inefficiency on part of the officials, that needs to be addressed. If there is shortage of funds and equipment, that needs to be brought to light. Globally we see people concerned about the depleting water resource. If we are bestowed with huge resource base, it is incumbent on us to guard this base, use it efficiently and make sure that no harm is done to this resource.
But unfortunately our crisis is not confined to just the inefficiency in matters of governance, but an overall attitude of apathy towards our natural resources. Some of our minds need to look at the big picture and suggest solutions that can save us from a deeper crisis in future.