Water and health

WORLD WATER Day was observed on March 22. It was originally conceived at the U.N. Conference on Environment and Development in Rio de Janeiro in 1992, and the U.N. General Assembly subsequently designated March 22 as the date.

According to a World Health Organisation's information leaflet, the 2001 theme of ``Water and Health'' will serve to remind the public of the connection between the promotion of good health and protection of water resources and purity.

A WHO fact-sheet also describes naturally occurring hazards in water supplies, notably arsenic and fluoride. Excessive levels of arsenic from ground wells in Bangladesh have recently been discovered, and the situation is now cited as a public health emergency. Researchers warn of the potential for widespread poisoning of the population.

A similar situation could occur in India due to poor management in the treatment and distribution of water. Most of the health hazards occur on account of the consumption of water of a highly substandard quality. The Central and State Governments are not paying serious attention to this most important issue and they do not have any long-term working plan on water management. The public resign themselves to fate and they are happy if their urgent needs are met from time to time. They do not have time to worry about the quality when they are facing acute shortage most of the time.

Many States face a scarcity almost every year and emergency measures are initiated to combat the situation. The problem gets resolved in the natural course when occasional rainfall occurs during the monsoon season. The Krishna river scheme is a classic example of the failure of the Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh Governments to implement a long-term solution to ease the water scarcity in Chennai. Andhra Pradesh lets in the excess water to Chennai whenever there is `more than adequate rain' and hardly shares any water as per the spirit of the scheme. As a result, Chennai suffers from water scarcity year after year. The Veeranam scheme is another failed project. There are occasional gimmicks like seeding for artificial rain which have not produced any result. In States such as Rajasthan, Orissa, Bihar, Gujarat, people scramble for any type of water from polluted rivers, canals or any other source to quench their thirst. Many die of water borne diseases in every State and there is no official count of such deaths.

To find a long term solution, the States should allow the Centre to constitute an independent authority to take over the management of all the major rivers. All the major political parties should resolve to stay away from poking their nose and creating animosity between the people of different States, on the issue of sharing the water. In the present day coalition setup at the Centre, the political parties should be mature enough to develop a national perspective on such issues.

The independent authority should involve national and international experts and work out a long-term effective plan spanning 10 to 15 years which could be implemented in stages with funds from the leading international institutions, the Centre and States. This macro plan may be debated in the legislatures and Parliament and adopted. From then on, there should be least interference from the governments. Once the broad framework is set, functional plans have to be evolved and implemented within the stipulated time. There should be proper accountability and the performance may be reviewed by the PMO periodically. The distribution of water should be managed by the corporations and municipalities as usual. The storage, treatment and distribution of water in every municipal or corporation area should be left to reputed organisations in the private sector to achieve effectiveness.

Water is a national issue of utmost importance and unless there is consensus amongst the political parties in pursuing a unified approach, there could be frequent major health disasters in India in the years to come.

R. MURALI SUNDARARAJAN

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