Nature is amazingly perfect. Even with run-away population growth, it struggles to maintain itself and us in the process- but here in India, I feel like I'm standing on the low side of the scale struggling for balance, grasping for the tipping point that is sliding by, out of my reach......
It has been raining all day here in Bangalore and I couldn't help but hope there were giant rain-catching containers somewhere catching all this water that is so precious to many parts of India. I watched the water rise in the streets and the stream next to my hostel flow faster and higher, carrying garbage and precious water away.
As it turns out, there is a movement towards rain-water harvesting here. It is hoped that rain-water harvesting can be part of the solution in India. Nature gives the water for free (remember that, we will come back to it), especially during the monsoon that comes on in different months from the north to the south. The problem is that many of the natural reservoirs for storing the water have been damaged here, just like in the states. (but then, without infrastructure you can't get the water to where you actually need it...another problem)... Many of the lakes are extremely polluted because of open defecation, garbage, and agriculture, so rain only works to dilute them. And, urbanization in India has also led to an increase in impervious surface cover, i.e. roads, parking lots, and buildings, that increases run-off to the polluted lakes, streams, and rivers, and decreases groundwater recharge. (I just pictured Mother Nature (as if) shaking her head and pointing her finger at us humans!)
So the problem becomes catching it, and storing it. In a country as water-stressed as India, this is a problem that needs a solution. Deepak told me yesterday that many families without infrastructure are using their roofs to catch the water, but without adequate storage, it seems to be a solution only on short time-scales. Imagine what size container you would need EVERYDAY to supply the water needs in your home. Now subtract all the water you waste. How big of a container would you need? I hope, beyond hope, that if you can imagine this, you can change this. Practically speaking, do you need to flush the toilet every time you pee? Conventional toilets use 5-7 gallons of water every time you flush them. I guarantee that is more water than the ladies I've seen out at 5 in the morning here are collecting from the pumps for their entire day! And a bath takes on average 50 gallons of water!! I have had a bucket and a small plastic pitcher in every bathroom of every single room I have stayed in since I came to India. I think they are meant to dissuade tourists from the gluttonously long showers that we have come to think of as our time to relax.
How many times have you ran the washer for a pair of jeans you wanted to wear? How often do you leave the kitchen sink running while you do something else? The water running down your drain may not directly help or hurt someone here in India, but nothing bad can ever come from conserving our resources. And in a way, the decision to be more frugal with our water, acknowledges the struggles others are having.
In the previous post I asked how to get sanitation infrastructure to people that you can't even get freshwater to. I was told yesterday about ecological sanitation. On average, people use about 4,000 gallons of water a year flushing away their wastes (www.africanwater.org). We were just talking about not having enough water right? Ecosan, like nature, reuses nutrients, bypasses the whole squat in the lake thing, and uses minimal water! Hmm...I don't understand it completely but feces and urine go into separate dry latrines, they are composted, urine is diluted with one part water, and all this can be used as fertilizer! There is even research under way here in India to determine what strengths of wastes are best for use on different crops! Ecosan, when used in place of open defecation, prevents freshwater pollution, but can add to groundwater pollution when not constructed properly. (that just sounded like an infomercial.) I have also heard that in some places, dalits, or untouchables in the Hindi caste system, are often required to remove wastes from these, which is another complex problem here in India.
The real tragedy of the commons is that it's real. When there are many people using one resource, it will be exploited until it's depleted or ruined to the extent that it's no longer usable, even to the detriment of the people using it. We do it in America with fossil fuels, land, and yes, water, among other things. Nature, in her exquisite perfection, provides this resource for free. Human population growth has required (or so we think?) that we dam our rivers, drill for all the fossil fuels we can find, clear forests for crops and agriculture and the hell of it, pollute our water, and now SELL our water?
Water for sale? Privatize another resource? Is it ok to do this with something that NO HUMAN BEING CAN SURVIVE WITHOUT? This is an emerging problem in India that I will write about next time. In the meantime, I hope you think about what that means for the people who can't buy it.
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