Water - Ms. Jessie Shiri

Posted On: 2007-09-07 16:10:59 By: SCMI

---

Water is common resource and we all have an equal right to this precious resources and responsibility to protect it. 

 

The Old Testament has clearly affirmed that the ‘Earth and all therein” belongs to God.  The ownership is God’s.  We are only stewards. Man is given the responsibility to tend it and to use it. He is not to violate it (Lev.25:23),  same thing for water also.  Water is a natural resource it is given by God to all including the birds, animals etc.  Without water we can’t survive we need water for drinking, cooking, for bath, sanitation, to the plants etc., etc.  It is one of the basic needs.  It is also called as a liquid life saver.

 

Much of the world lives without access to clean water, privatization of water resources, promoted as a means to being business efficiency into water service management, has instead led to reduced access for the poor around the world as prices for these essential services have risen.

 

Mrs. Padmalatha Ravi states like this: Karnataka inches forwarding water harvesting.  Water table reports in Karnataka show that the future looks bleak.  While rain water harvesting is looked upon as a viable solution and has become abuzz word, the state has only taken an incremental implementation, path with urban areas currently leading rural areas.

 

Women in Karnataka use Sari to harvest rain water.  Women in Vamdase village in Kundapura block of Udupi District in Karnataka use their sari to harvest rain water.  Here sari acts as the catchments, conveyance system and filtration – all of which integral to rainwater are harvesting system.  This system helps the women to collect rain water for meeting their day-to-day drinking water at zero investment.

 

It was the looming water crisis in the village that forced the villagers to innovate this technique. The water infrastructure of the village comprises of two tube wells (one of them dry) and two water tanks (one of them constructed with an investment of Rs.1.8 lakh).  All of them are lying unused due to technical problems. This method is used elsewhere in the neighboring state of Kerala as well.  In Kuttanadu in Alleppy district this technique is used not because of water scarcity but to have clean drinking water.  Families using this system typically boil the water before drinking.  Some families keep this water (in little storage vessels) and use for their drinking needs for a week.  There is hardly any hesitation to drink rain water in these areas.

 

Right to Water:

 

Key verse ‘A Samaritan woman came to draw water and Jesus said to her ‘Give me to drink’ John 4:7.

 

Water is one of the essential needs for the survival of every living creature.  Hence it plays a pivotal role in our existential reality.  During Jesus’ time also there was purity – pollution syndrome, as we have in India even today, in the caste stratified society, in which Dalits are considered impure’ In many village in India, the Dalits are prohibited to draw water from the sources that are used by the dominant caste people, though Article 15 of the Indian Constitution prohibits discrimination on grounds of religion, race, caste, sex or place of birth.

 

Water is the basic fundamental right of every citizen in the country.  Yet, safe and potable water continues to be a mirage for millions of people. In this context, the statement by Jesus ‘I AM THE LIVING WATER’ has to be interpreted which implies the combination of qualitative and quantitative dimensions of life.  By qualitative, we mean the awareness of self and the other, whereas quantitative means the basic survival needs such as water, shelter, food, health, employment and education that are to be provided for all God’s children.

 

Human Rights:

 

Refer to universal rights that belong to individuals by virtue of their being human, encompassing, civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights and freedoms, and are based on the notion of personal human dignity wand worth.  The most significant developments in Human Rights on December 10, 1948, which grants freedom of thought, expression and religion.  In the Indian context, the Constitution makes provision for fundamental rights and several other socio-economic and political rights.

 

World Water Day:

 

22^nd March 2007 coping with water scarcity.  Coping with water scarcity is the theme for World Water Day 2007, which is celebrated each year on 22^nd March.  This year’s theme highlights the increasing significance of water scarcity worldwide and the need for increased integration and cooperation to ensure, sustainable, efficient and equitable management of scarce water resources, both at international and local levels.

 

Equity and rights, cultural and ethical issues are essential to be addressed when dealing with limited water resources.  Imbalances between availability and demand, the degradation of ground water and surface water quality, intersectoral competition, interregional and international disputes, all center around the question of how to cope with scarce water resources.

 

On Sunday the 4^th March 2007 Deccan Herald published one article “End of Water Woes? Hoping against Hope.  It reads like this: Water scarcity is everyday problem faced by the residents of North Karnataka.  The World Bank funded project for the supply of drinking water round the clock has come as a glimmer or hope the residents of Belgaum, Hubli-Dharwad and Gulbarga.  However, whether the project will spell an end to their water woes or not is a MILLION DOLLAR question.

 

Here I can give some facts and figures:

 

1.1              Billion people in the world, in other words one sixth of the world population, do not have access to potable water.

 

2.2 Million people in developing countries are dying every year, most of them children, from diseases linked to the lack of access to clean drinking water, inadequate health and poor hygiene.

 

6000 boys and girls die everyday from diseases linked to the lack of access to clean drinking water, inadequate health and poor hygiene.

 

The average distance a woman in Africa and Asia walks to collect water is 6 KM.

 

The weight of water that women in Asia and Africa carry on their heads is equivalent to the baggage weight allowed by airlines (20 KG).

 

In developing countries one person uses an average of 10 liters of water per day.  In the United Kingdom, one person uses an average of 135 liters of water everyday.

 

When you flush toilet, you are using the same water amount that one person the Third World uses all day to wash, clean, cook and drink.

 

Lastly I will conclude with the Cauvery issue:

 

All of us are aware of the Cauvery issue between Karnataka and Tamilnadu from decades.  It has created differences and enmity between two states.  Most of us don’t believe in such attitude which differentiates and affects harmony among us.

 

In Deccan Herald on 9^th March 2007, we can read the speech of our Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh.  He says water should be treated as a national resource that should not divide people.  We should work together in a spirit of National Unity and harmony to resolve these issues.  He said apparently referring to the Cauvery crisis.

 

There was a slogan in Kannada which says like this “Karnatakakke Kannieru Tamil Naduge Tannieru”. So dear friends, let us all struggle to preserve water which in the source of life for all.  Water is God given and thus God given natural resource will have to be preserved and shared for the present and future generations.  Nobody has the monopoly and right over water, depriving a person, a family, a group, a community, a society and on country by depriving water is violate the basic human right. All of us have this right which is given by God and nobody has any right to over someone.

 

So dear friends, let us all join together and unite to bring peace and justice and fight for our basic rights.  Thanks.