Editorial
The issue is water use
We need a comprehensive plan
If we had any radar screen for observing the groundwater situation we would have seen two SOS signals bleeping in and away, both of them related to the overuse of subterranean waters lowering down their levels with all sorts of dangerous ramifications. The first concern is arsenic contamination. This has already acquired the proportion of a disaster by its sheer spread. The worse is yet to come though, as experts tend to view. As though it was not enough, this health issue seems superseded now by another concern which has to do with the livelihood of millions of farmers and at least 55 per cent of the food autarchy that critically hinges on irrigated agriculture. The country's first-ever groundwater zoning map reveals that indiscriminate lifting of subsoil water has led to: (a) fall in the level from 2-7.6 metres to a depth of 7.6-11.3 metres; and (b) three lakh shallow tube-wells out of a total of 11 lakh failing to reach the low level of water to pump it out. All this points to the need for a greater use of surface water. And nothing, let's repeat nothing, has been done to harness the potential groundwater resources. The superabundance of monsoon waters hasn't been put to use. It is now history that our canals, haors, beels and ponds had been inter-linked with rivers and their tributaries in a vast network which would hold the excess monsoon water to service agriculture in the lean season. There is a compelling need to rejuvenate, by excavation, the derelict water channels. Add new canals where deemed necessary for better linkups. Equally important is the neglected job of dredging and training the choked rivers. All this is directed to the prime objective of building up a reservoir with excess monsoon water and retention of rain water. Unfortunately, we are nowhere near doing this. When would the government realise that water is more precious than oil. If war was waged on oil before, all future wars are now predicted to be fought for water. Hence, we suggest that a taskforce of experts be formed and assigned to draw up a new plan for water use with a focus on surface water. Whatever findings and recommendations we have in the archives should be dusted, sifted through and built up on for the sake of taking up a new plan of action for water management and use.
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