the major drinking water challenge in India, the most populous country in the world

In one grocery store in South Delhi, like many others in India, water is the most expensive item. “I have 20, 10, 1 liter or half liter bottles”explains Pachir, who sells between 250 and 300 liters a day. The 20 liter bottle costs 100 rupees, and the 1 liter one about 20 rupees. “Of course it’s expensive!denounces Pachir. Water, we are supposed to find it naturally, it is something that nature gives us, so even if it costs 1 rupee, it is expensive!”

>> “We waited two years to have a date for his operation”: in India, an unequal health system

But there are no other ways to get drinking water because the water that flows from the taps, when there is any, is only used for daily needs. “There, for example, I need to use the bathroom and there is no waterlaments Shamik in the bathroom of the university residence where nothing flows. It’s recurrent: between noon and 3 p.m. there is nothing. And that’s a problem because we students get up late, around 11 a.m. or noon and we don’t have water to brush our teeth or take a shower.”

The poor suffer the most from lack of water

India is now the most populous country in the world ahead of China with 1.428 billion people. The challenges for the subcontinent are numerous, in particular the major problem of water and meeting the needs of its inhabitants. And it is the poorest who suffer the most from this lack of water. In the slum of Kusumpur Pahadi, south of Delhi, women wait for the tanker truck with a hundred cans lined up in front of them and the caps unscrewed. “We fill them every day for drinking, washing and for our needs”explains a resident of the slum.

“We pay 100 rupees for the arrival of the tank and we share the costs between neighbours, and it’s expensive especially for people like us. We only earn 10,000 to 12,000 rupees a month!”

Resident of Kusumpur Pahadi slum

at franceinfo

Filling the cans and then carrying them, a physically and morally exhausting daily routine explains Ashak: “You also have to go every day to register your request with the Delhi authorities, and the arrival of the tank can take two to four days, or even a week. You also have to pay 100-200 rupees more to the driver because if you don’t pay he won’t come! And he can cancel our next request! That’s bribery!”

A few meters away, a mother is tired of waiting for this cistern for water that is supposed to be drinkable but is not really: “Sometimes it’s clean. Sometimes it’s dirty. I’ve been sick before, and so have the children. We have fever, stomach ache, diarrhea and sometimes stones in the body. It’s poor quality water.

Sewage directly into the sacred river

Two million Indians, mostly children, die each year from waterborne diseases. “Every day, I see at least three to five patients with vomiting, very dehydrated, and stomach aches.describes doctor Viky Patel who treats these patients daily at the Delhi public hospital. There are adults but especially children, because they are more fragile and prone to dehydration. There is dirty water but also dilapidated pipes that contaminate water that is basically pure. It gets worse year by year. Every year, for example, the cases of dengue fever increase.”

The Yamuna, a sacred river and tributary of the Ganges, is one of the most polluted in the world. During religious festivals, Hindu worshipers come to immerse themselves in these poisonous waters. “Do you smell that smell? The bank and the water are covered with domestic refuse, sacred offerings, and the water is black!”is desperate Jitendra Nagar, professor at the Faculty of Environment of the University of Delhi.

“The water is black because it is household waste water that is not treated and that is discharged directly into the Yamuna and the industrialists do the same. It is totally contaminated with heavy metals such as arsenic.”

Jitendra Nagar, Professor at the University of Delhi

at franceinfo

Millions of liters of sewage are discharged into this river because the city does not have enough infrastructure. “The government must build many more sewage treatment plants and wastewater treatment centersexplains Jitendra Nagar. It is truly a catastrophic situation. Delhi is a crowded city, and every day the population increases, with new slums where the poor have no toilets, they throw their waste into the river. This population growth is a real problem.” A sewage treatment plant should have seen the light of day at the end of 2022 in south-east Delhi, but its inauguration has been postponed to June 2023.