Representational image. (Photo | AP)
Representational image. (Photo | AP)

Corona: Prepare for water scarcity now

Going by a survey, a little over 80% of Indian households have access to just about 40 litres of water a day.

The coronavirus pandemic has thrown unprecedented challenges for India’s health infrastructure and healthcare services. It is also instilling a behavioural change among the 1.3 billion people in India. As the country goes through the 21-day lockdown and summer approaches fast, access to safe water is going to emerge as one of the biggest problems for many states.

In the war against Covid-19, personal hygiene and frequent handwashing have become the main weapons. As water availability for domestic use gets scarce by the day, how the common Indian is going to stick to those basic safety measures is anyone’s guess. Going by a survey, a little over 80% of Indian households have access to just about 40 litres of water a day. In rural households, the scenario becomes worse as only about 20% have pipe-water supply. Let’s look at Odisha’s example.

As per the NSS 76th round survey, 14% of households in the state do not get sufficient drinking water throughout the year. It is, in fact, one of the four worst-performing states in the country as far as availability of piped water is concerned because a whopping 56% of the households depend on hand pumps for their daily dose of water. At least 19% of households in Odisha have to trek a minimum of 1 km to fetch drinking water every day.

A similar scenario prevails in Andhra Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Meghalaya, Jharkhand, Rajasthan and many other states. Urban India does not fare any better. In Meghalaya, over 11% of households have to cover a kilometre on foot to meet their everyday requirement. It is 10% in AP and 6% in Odisha. As summer sets in, water will assume prominence. Lack of water supply will force people to come out to fetch their daily needs, that too in large numbers. If the threat of Covid-19 persists beyond mid-April and into May, this may pose another big hurdle towards containment efforts. While the states are currently preoccupied with Covid-19, they should also start preparing for water scarcity right now.

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The New Indian Express
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