The Big Thirst

In Delhi, India, a group of people gather on a boulevard. The people have empty containers, and hoses. A water truck brings water to the slum. Residents siphon water into containers. The truck brings 10,000 liters (2,500 gallons) of water daily from the local water utility.

An average American family consumes several times more water than the container-filling Indians consume. Further, the Indian water gets polluted by the hoses that people insert. The water utility runs trucks to thousands of slums. Fishman calls the siphoning “water slavery.”

Vikram Soni, a scientist and environmentalist, resides in a three-story house near the slum, and by some Indian embassies. Water only arrives in the pipes once or twice per week, for a few hours, despite illegal pumping. Some residents pump water into storage tanks to increase the amount. Soni also gets water from the delivery trucks, whose drivers he tips.

India has modernize rapidly, building transportation and education institutions, but water resources remain scarce. In most cities, water only arrives a few hours per day: “Just one of the thirty-five largest cities in India has twenty-four-hour-a-day water service” (222).

Approximately 45% of Indians, around 540 million people, do not have safe water to drink. Soni says that water shortages prevent Indians from developing socially and economically. Further, Indians often die from polluted water.

The Energy and Resource Institute (TERI) reports that water may be the largest problem in the country. Diarrhea from tainted water costs the country 900 billion (US$20 billion) per year—2% of its economy. Farmers in India waste half of the water in the country.

Ashok Jaitly, director of the Water Resources Division at TERI, says that money and technology do not cause the problem; rather, it’s mismanagement. Under the British Empire, most large Indian cities had 24-hour water service. Since independence, water service has eroded: “The result is that water in India is not invisible the way it is in much of the developed world” (224).

Poor Indians gather water from public trucks, taps, wells, and nearby villages. Girls often do not go to school so that they can gather water. Richer Indians have water 24 hours per day, but only by pumping and storing it themselves.

A hotel called the “Grand,” near a slum, features fountains, a waterfall, and a pool. Birds drink the pool water. Fishman notes the discrepancy of local residents having less water than birds.

In the 2000s NASA discovered water on the moon. The equipment that enabled this discovery was launched on an Indian spacecraft. The Indian scientists did not have running water in their houses. Large Indian cities only receive a few hours of water over days. An English water utility outsources to Indians who do not have water service.

In India, the Supreme Court requested the government to provide drinking water. Ashok Jaitly, from TERI, expects providing drinking water to all of India to take many years.

In regard to economic development, some of India resembles the United States. Industrial and commercial buildings look the same. However, Indians retain different traditions, such as driving over highway lane dividers. Smells of food, agriculture, and waste abound. Indians consider some rivers, such as the Ganges, holy. These rivers are often highly polluted.

Praveen Aggrawal, a regional general manager for Coca-Cola, says that the company wants a different water culture. People have criticized Coke for its consumption of water in India, where the substance is respected. Aggrawal says that Indians consider their houses more important than outside, so they pollute rivers despite respecting water. Jaitly argues that water issues depend on cultural views.

In India, farmers consume 80% of the country’s water. Because water does not cost much, farmers consume as much as they can; as a result, 70% of water for farms is wasted.

Indian cities continue to grow while falling behind in regard to water. Indian villages still depend on traditional water gathering. Technological and cultural hurdles prevent wider water service.

Other developing countries have installed 24-hour water, seven days of the week. India, however, does not view this amount of water service as achievable, and Indians remain skeptical of their highly bureaucratic country supplying such water service.

The British water system provided cheap water to India when India was still under British rule. Afterward, the system decayed, and there is not enough income to cover costs. Cities close valves to most customers at one time. During the day, different parts of a city receive water.

The pipes leak too much water, and the pumps do not have enough pressure to supply 24-hour water to entire cities. Houses cannot have their own pumps and storage tanks on a 24-hour system. Some Indian cities have tested 24-hour water and found that people consumed less than when they had access to only a few hours of water per day.

Fishman argues that India mismanages its water because of the invisibility of the resource. This makes the problem comparable to water issues elsewhere. Lack of planning leads to larger costs later. The United States spent $255 billion on water maintenance from 2009 to 2014. V. S. Chary, an Indian water administrator, wants the country to have 24-hour water.

In Defense Colony, a residential part of Delhi, people have American shops. However, the area only receives an hour of dirty water per day. Houses have reverse osmosis cleaners. People also have bottled water, for when the electricity fails.

Water supply and sewage pipes in India and elsewhere run together. Unmaintained sewer pipes can leak into supply pipes. In India, where house pumps suck water, when the supply pressure goes off, such contamination becomes more common. Indians sometimes get sick and die from water contamination. Water problems make Indians aware of the water they consume.

In Jargali, a rural village near Delhi, female villagers walk to a neighboring village for water: “In India, 32 million households get their water from ‘away’—17 percent of the country” (240). This amounts to 170 million people.

Fishman goes on a water walk. Carrying large buckets, he and villagers walk to a well. They fill their buckets. With five gallons per person, the difficult walk brings less water than the recommended 13 gallons per day for people to have for their activities.

Mehmood Khan grew up in the nearby village of Nai Nangla. These areas had more water service decades prior. Khan left for school, then worked at Unilever. Returning to Nai Nangla, he wanted to improve the village. About 550 other villages in the area also had problems with schools, jobs, and agriculture. Khan considered water the main problem. Without water, people leave school, get sick, and go hungry.

Khan built a charitable foundation in Nai Nangla. Locals gained computer and sewing experience, and get jobs. A milk buying station increased prices. Khan started an orchard and a dairy farm. A local, Ronak, gets enlisted to find new water. Khan visits the local school. Five pit toilets do not function. Khan offers to pay to fix the toilets, as long as the school maintains them.

Hanumantha Rao, a general manager at the Hyderabad water utility, wanted to bring 24-hour water to the technology-oriented city. Rao fixed one part of the city in 2006 as a test. After initial costs, customers consumed less water. After the test, the area reverted to five hours of water per day.

Pentair, a large American water infrastructure company, produces reverse osmosis cleaners. It provides cleaners at cost to Indian villages. At one location, the purifier disappeared.

Jyoti Sharma left corporate management for her family. She wants to fix water problems in small parts. Sharma started the Forum for Organised Resource Conservation and Enhancement (FORCE). One initiative harvests rainwater. Delhi now requires new buildings to collect rainwater.

Residents of some slums improve their water supplies. Sharma mentions a slum building its own piping for shacks. Even richer areas can be unrecognized, not having city services. Residents get water from wells, or from trucks. FORCE gets dry wells to store rainwater. One richer area builds private piping like the slum.

The nearby Yamuna River supplies water to Delhi. Waste water gets flushed back into the river. People wash clothes and have cleansing ceremonies in the filthy river. The river has millions of times more bacteria than safety standards.

India has shifted fast before. In 1998, the country required tens of thousands of public transportation vehicles to stop burning gas. Richer Indians can get 24-hour water for themselves, preventing the country from investing in the public water system. Fishman argues that India’s water problems are social problems of people misunderstanding and mismanaging water.

Navi Mumbai is a rich Indian city that went back to 24-hour water. A recent, planned city, it has 1.2 million people. After water shortages from the state, the city acquired its own water supply. The shift to 24-hour water was six years in the making and doubled water costs. Residents consume now consume 20% less water. The city outsources water maintenance and other utilities.

V. S. Chary says that over 40 Indian cities plan to have 24-hour water. The increased water service improves conditions for the poor. Residents now clean more and wait for water less.