THE LAST WATER DAY :(

This morning is again different from the other six days in the week. Yes, you have figured it out correctly, the morning is not sedentary because it’s water day. Everyone is thinking of the ways in which they can store as much water as they can. There is a feeling of happiness and joy and gives a feeling of any festival. There are lines of buckets and drums at every nook and cranny in front of the spigots.

But, this feeling will not last long. The irony is that this is the last water supply for the city. The Amlavada Bika Barrage, 24 km from the city, the dam from which the water is currently being supplied to city is starving. The water collected through channel cutting is really muddy and dirty and will be supplied to city in two parts, June, 24 - newer part of the city and June, 27 –older part of the city and if still there is some water left in the dam, it will be distributed on July,1 . This is really stunning news for the outsiders but the people here are not stupefied as this was certain. The water has made every Ujjaini to fight for sustenance.

It has always been taught to people that save water otherwise your next generation will not see the running water ever. Everyone is hoping that let the monsoon come and everything shall be fine, however, the people should understand that the bore wells which served them almost throughout the crisis will not be at their disposal in the next crisis even if it rains more than average.

Well, this is the beginning and the nature has started teaching in its own ways and believe me you will never ever like nature as a teacher.

Burning Issue - Water

Here comes a reason i.e. prevailing water scarcity in Malwa Region that inspires me to write my very first blog. I must say in the very beginning that, bear with my writings as I am not a good writer. This blog has been posted to let people know how hard is this summer for the Malwa Region to find water (now for those who do not know, I must tell that the region includes the Madhya Pradesh districts of Dewas, Dhar, Indore, Jhabua, Mandsaur, Neemuch, Rajgarh, Ratlam, Shajapur ,Ujjain , and the Rajasthan districts of Jhalawad and the parts of Banswada and Chittorgarh ) and the possible reasons behind it. The region, earlier known for ‘Dag-Dag Roti, Pag-Pag Neer’ is struggling hard to fulfill the daily requirements of the residents.

I will tell you some examples that will depict the seriousness of the problem:

· The interval between consecutive water supply is now increased to 7 days i.e. if you are not in the city the day the water is supplied, then do not come for another week J. The day is now celebrated as the ‘WATER DAY’ in the city. :)

· The water is being supplied through tankers to the city and now the tanker drivers are like GOD to the residents. They come at whatever time they want or better to say when they get water because they sometimes bring the water from a distance of 35 – 40 km.

· Last time when I was finished with the water task it was 3 A.M. Itna to mai exam me bhi nahi jaagta hu, ask my roomie :P.

· You will be shocked to know that there have been murder cases also, the reason being water. The quibbles and disagreements are the things that you find everywhere.

· And the list is endless….

So, coming back to the issue, The water scarcity in the Malwa region is an exigent issue and the possible reasons are the erratic pattern of rainfall in the last 5-10 years (this can be associated with the global climate change to some extent), and the unlimited exploitation of ground water. I am not going to make a list and convert this blog in an essay :) but these were the two important reasons to be mentioned.

However, I would like to add a very important reason to the list i.e. Lack of awareness and Negligence by the Local Administration.

Despite knowing the fact that there was very little rainfall in the year 2008 and the dams and the local reservoirs will not serve till the next rain, the local administration did not take any step to provide the water supply to the residents of the city. Earlier the water was supplied on daily basis, but in 2008 it was supplied alternate days which is now increased to an interval of a whopping 7 days. It is very easy to calculate how long the water will last in the Gambhir Dam, but at the inchoate stage, it was not taken care of.

Also once the water crisis started to accrue, the applications of boring wells and deep wells proliferated, and all the applications were approved without thinking it’s awful effect on the Water Table.

As an information, I would like to share that the proposal for bringing the water to Ujjain from a distance of 24 km form Amlavada Bika Dam has been approved and now that dam is also at verge of drying. It is facing channel cutting and it is believed that it can only provide water for 3 -4 water supplies to the city.

The only good thing that happened in the city is the Roof Water Harvesting and the awareness aroused by this water inadequacy.

Now the only hope for us is the Monsoon, which is again delayed by 7 more days and is expected to hit the region by 24^th June.