Sharique Hussain
(The writer can be contacted at hussain.sharique@gmail.com)
"Rain Rain Go Away Come another Day Little Johnny wants to play" But now that little Johnny has grown up who doesn't really have play grounds to play, green urban spaces to go and clean air to breathe. Today as he goes out of his home for livelihood he finds confusion and congestion in the environment around with roads filled with stressed public, errant commuters, unregulated traffic, drains filled with garbage and poor AQI (Air Quality Index).
The arrival of monsoon is a blessing for many who live in the rural set-up, for cultivation being the prime livelihood, but it also often fearsome due to floods caused by heavy rains. We have time and again failed to mitigate the long-standing issue of devastation and displacement caused across the ecological chain. Incessant rain is a headache for many city dwellers who stay in unplanned urban infrastructure and where almost every one is a villain and victim to the game of mismanagement, resulting in havoc - artificial floods, waterlogging, clogged drains, shortage of accessible potable water etc. No one can do away with it by playing a blame game or finding scapegoats, neither the public nor the politicians and administrators; everyone is an equal partner in the crime of ecological imbalance. Water & Waste management are the keys for a good urban sustainable infrastructure which requires continuous outreach, serious participation, thoughtful intervention & timely executions.
We humans are already overshooting Earth's Ecological Footprint and Biocapacity, utilizing 1.75 times of Earth's capacity to satisfy human need & greed. The natural resources are fast depleting and water has also reached the stressed category level. Water is the ultimate resource for human civilization. Its impact on energy, agriculture, urbanization, infrastructure, manufacturing and human development is pervasive. Today around 1.9 billion people live in potentially severely water scarce areas. The major source of water pollution is from human settlements, industrial and agricultural activities. Globally over 80% of the waste water generated by society flows back into the river/environment without being treated or diverted. Water bodies are merely being used as dump yards/dustbins rather than a source of living. Studies indicate that 71% of Earth's surface is covered by water, but according to the National Geographic magazine, humans can use only 0.007 per cent of that water, because of the fact that only 2.5 per cent of the water on our planet is fresh water and only per cent% of that is accessible. India, which is home to about 17 per cent of the world's population, has only 4 per cent of its fresh water resources.
The rising challenges to water security from climate change and population growth have resulted in the demand for this all-important natural resource far outweighing its supply. If the current pattern of water management continues, about half the water demand in 2030 will remain unmet.
Thus, there is a pressing need to work inclusively on UN Sustainable Goal: SDG-6 (Clean water & Sanitation) to ensure access to clean water & sanitation for all. With rapid economic growth and a growing population, the annual water availability in India has become a cause for concern, especially since the country has already entered the 'water stressed' category. Furthermore, unplanned urbanization and untreated effluents emitted by industries have resulted in increasing water contamination at an alarming rate, while groundwater suffers from over-extraction and contamination. Along with other factors, climate change is also expected to pose serious challenges to the quality and quantity of water and lead to water-related natural disasters and water wars.
Thus, there lies the need for short-term and long-term policy reforms aimed towards sustainable water management and move away from viewing the sector through fragmented lenses and move towards adopting a holistic approach of looking at the inter-linkages between water and other sectors for establishing an ecological balance and harmony.
Assam is endowed with enormous natural water resources. The large perennial rivers and other water bodies with rich aquifer speak about the vastness of its water resource. Surface water is available in the forms of rivers, streams, lakes, swamps, ponds etc., but there is utmost requirement of dissemination of information, skills & knowledge for capacity building, outreach and mass awareness to protect and restore water-related ecosystems, including mountains, forests, wetlands, rivers, aquifers and lakes. There has to be an approach for private public partnership to comply, compliment & compensate, thereby addressing the core issues of water & waste management by harvesting, conservation, reuse through water treatment, effluent treatment, sewage treatment etc. There can be various byproducts and value-added materials derived out of proper waste management, segregation and processing which can accelerate circular economy through reuse, recycle & up-cycle. An overwhelming initiative is the Amrit Sarovar scheme of water conservation, pisciculture, job generation and commercial plantation – all rolled into one, making it sustainable and enduring.
My recent visit to Hyderabad, Telangana to attend INK@WASH 3.0 (Innovation and New Knowledge in Water, Sanitation and Hygiene) Summit and Exhibition has been really overwhelming. The WASH Innovation Hub under the aegis of Administrative Staff College of India (ASCI), Hyderabad, is the knowledge partner for the event wherein they have invited inclusive participation & partnerships to brainstorm and encourage innovation on WASH (Water, Sanitation and Hygiene) ,a first-of-its-kind event bringing together all stakeholders on a single platform - start-ups, innovators, funders, civic societies, Developmental Agencies both national & International, ULB's, State Government agencies and Central Governments departments associated with water management, used water management, FSSM, plastics management, MSWM, hygiene sectors, fecal waste management, water conservation & reuse, municipal solid waste management, plastic & e-waste and climate change. The objective, therefore, is to enable, support and achieve implementations of SBM 2.0, AMRUT 2.0, Smart Cities Mission and Jal Jeevan Mission by ULB's, local governments in cities & States. The INK@Wash summit demonstrates the intent & integrity to engage with right stakeholders & start-up communities in envisaging and establishing the landscape of clean, green and sustainable ecosystem.
Often it's not possible for any Government alone to change the perception or bring paradigm shift overnight, but with the right people, processes, participations & partnerships there can be enduring change in the way of thoughts, operation and implementation towards enhancing the quality of life. It's imperative for different stakeholders like Government, public, civic bodies, students, NGOs, industry and academia to come on board and take ownership to save the environment and mother earth. It ought to be borne in mind that we don't have another Planet B to fall back on. Let's not instigate & provoke nature again. Rather, we should manage precious resources judiciously to enable make cities inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainably liveable (SDG 11).Our environment (Clean & Green) is Our Responsibility.