India must come up with a water policy

It’s sad to see the impact of climate change in Kerala, with the temperature crossing 40 degrees Celsius in most districts. A rise in temperature first affects the surface water, and gradually leads to drought and other disasters. Ecosystems, as such, are imbalanced due to high human interference by sand mining and cutting down trees. Recent studies state that there are 8,953 trees per person in Canada, compared to 28 trees per person in India, and the global average is 422 trees per person. Planting more trees would enable us to overcome the present situation.

Cutting down trees is one of the phases of urbanisation. The lifeline River Nila stretches for more than 200km in Kerala and is almost on the verge of disappearing, as barely any water is left. Considering this, we should preserve rainwater for future use. The time duration for rain water to flow into the Arabian Sea from the Western Ghats, which in the past took three to four weeks, has now been reduced to two days. The longer duration helped to preserve water naturally.

Kerala significantly depends on hydroelectricity and lesser rain would result in power outages, and worsen the situation. Plants and trees dry up and a lot of agriculture has been destroyed due to heatwaves. Micro-irrigation would help to save water and reduce cost of cultivation, and the Indian government should implement modern techniques like sprinklers, for irrigation. It’s high time that the country develops and cultivates drought-resistant varieties of crops.

The Indian central government should take initiatives to develop a national water policy in order to benefit the nation and its people. By implementing this, water distribution among the states would function, and this way, no state would have to face drought. However, government intervention is not enough, the curbing of consumer behaviour should also be a priority.

— The reader is an Indian logistics manager based in Dubai