Cauvery issue: Few random thoughts

In most of the rivers, it is all about taking from Shyam and giving to Ram. Both are users, and it is only a question of how much I have with the resources dwindling. With extensive ground water over extraction, and building of check dams, maybe at the end the upstream user may have an advantage. Many of the dams are no longer filling to levels which were earlier reported.At the end of the day, we need to learn to live with less, not hoping that the upstream user may sacrifice his interests.
Somehow it is all about fighting over increasingly reducing water resources. Generally you, Watershed development, Jalyukt Shivir and Sujalam Sufalam will be over ridden by cheaper solar pumps, a disruption waiting to happen. None seems to be thinking about impacts of millions of small scale interventions at Basin levels. We can dig the river channels, suck out water from aquifers, we cant change the rules of conservation of mass.
An old Kannada saying: My son learn to eat properly when drought hit us! We have lernt to waste and grumble, but dont want to make change in our consumption pattern. The urban dwellers should be given Nobel prize for wasting. They spoil more resources than they consume, like children. Better so some “housebreaking” of urban users.See the case of water quality changes between Delhi and Agra. The pollution plumes will grow and cover many downstream towns from one large city.
Ganga has seen many action plans, but unless we create awareness, go for zero waste colonies, nothing will change. As PR Mishra’s wife sued to say, my husband went on drawing steps on paper(graphs), nothing changed until he started working on ground. It is high time to start action from grass roots, or some more studies and reports can be published, models run with larger and larger computers.
It is sad that there is little money for such actions, but plenty for intellectual pursuits. Indian discovered zero and pi, but built temples with pyramidal shapes, but it was Iranians and Turks that built fine domes using the equations. We are good at intellectual discourse. These papers and ppts are good anaesthetic for a patient going for a surgical procedures.I learnt a hard lesson that people are not interested in putting a micro sewage treatment plant, but are ready to contribute to lakhs of Rupees for religious festivals. Water and sewage treatment is government/municipality’ problem, when they are unable to supply, we set up mini-water utilities complete with sump, pump, overhead .tank and RO filters. We did a study of Indore calculating total private investments on “mini water utilities” It was higher than ADB’s fund for Narmada Phase 4 loan.
We believe in investing on next life and heaven , while forgetting here and now. In the deal we may lose both. None wants to cooperate, there lies the problem. India is water, energy and food hungry country, unless we do something about changing our usage pattern, we cant hope to change our futures.
Regards, Bhat
Posted by: GK Bhat <gkbhatc@yahoo.co.in> 29 May 2018
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