If the prophecy of severe scarcity of potable water in coming years comes true, people across the country would fall prey to fatal health issues as is happening in Balangir and villages of remote districts of Odisha.
For over a decade, remote districts in the western part of Odisha like Balangir & Bargarh have experienced extreme drought conditions every year, with no respite, thereby leading to a severe drinking water crisis, crop failure and distress migration.
In addition, villagers in these regions face extreme health hazards due to high levels of fluoride contamination in the limited drinking water resources, said S K Maher, a doctor at a local community health centre in Gaisilet block of Bargarh district.
“With no alternative source of water, the villagers are forced to drink from the existing fluoride- contaminated tubewells and open dug wells, thus risking their lives,” he said.
Several NGOs like ‘Rise Against Hunger India’, an international NGO, and ‘Ahinsa Club’ have teamed up to provide basic relief to the villagers across Balangir and Bargarh.
The three-month long project providing safe drinking water during the peak summer season aims to reach 4,517 families, said ‘Ahinsa Club’ chief functionary Shivaji.
‘Project Jalseva’ has been introduced to cater to the needs of the villagers and provide them solutions to overcome the issues of water scarcity, fluoride contamination and water treatment, he added.
The teams on-ground have deployed water counters at critical road points which are monitored by a water committee set-up within the project.
The team is also working on creating a water reservoir called the ‘Chahala’.
Health camps are also being organised for diagnosis and treatment of issues like diarrhoea and skin infections in children and spreading awareness among the villagers.

Johnny Weissmuller’s swimming pool in southern California remains empty 34 years after his death.
The actor and former Olympic gold medalist portrayed Tarzan in a string of movies back the 1930s and 40s.
Today his legendary house located at 414 St. Pierre Road in Bel Air is owned by the family of mid-20th century sculptor Joseph Nicolosi.
It sits eerily vacant and in disrepair, a chain link fence keeping onlookers out.
It features an arched bridge, a stone tunnel with Gothic windows and has a waterfall at one end.
Would passage of the water conservation bill (AB 1668) allow such an ostentatious swimming pool to be restored and refilled?
If water scarcity is of dire concern and we‘re being asked to ration (conserve) water, then why are legislators pushing for an additional million homes to be built to address a statewide housing shortage?
Shouldn’t they be banned, closed and left empty?
Why does the state continue watering the lawn at the state capital?
This isn’t about water conservation at all – it’s about control.

Residents of Gairatpur Baas and Mohammadpur Gujar villages say that 75 to 80% concentration of mesquite or Vilayti Babool trees in the region led to extreme water scarcity so much so that wild life in the region has started encroaching into the villages for water.
Mesquite, or Vilayti Babool trees, which have a huge presence in the Aravallis, have been an impediment to the villagers in an already water-scarce region, says Amit Rathi, a villager from Gairatpur Baas who actively works for the wildlife in the region.
However, this led to extreme water scarcity in the region, so much so that animals depending on the naturally available water started encroaching into the villages for water.
On May 15, a one-and-a-half year old leopard was found dead in Gairatpur Baas, near the pit constructed by the villagers, as it had ventured into the area in search of water.
Having grown mango, green apple, walnut, lemon, chickoo, mausambi, pears and other trees on his 4-acre plot, Vats has proved that the region is conducive for the growth of all sorts of vegetation, even plants which grow in colder regions.
“All sorts of vegetation can grow in the Aravallis, but it does take some effort from the forest department.
However the forest department said that they were not notified about this.
However, acclaimed environmentalist, author and filmmaker Pradip Krishen said that high water consumption by the Vilayti Babool trees is not such an issue here.
Krishen, however, agreed that Vilayti Babool is an invasive species and is a menace for other vegetation in the region.
Last year, the forest department had passed an order stating that permission would not be required to clear mesquite (videshi babool) and kikar trees in the Aravallis.

ISLAMABAD, June 28 (Xinhua) — The Indus River System Authority (IRSA) of Pakistan said that the country’s south Sindh and east Punjab province will face 51 percent of water shortage in the coming days as there is only 220,000 cusec acres of water available in reserves, far less than the demand of water in the country.
Raising alarm over the prevalent acute shortage of water in the reserves, IRSA informed that the current water storage in the reserves stood at 0.220 million acres feet (MAF), local reports said on Thursday.
The authority said that the water inflow in the rivers of the country was measured at 1,12,900 cusecs, while river outflow remained at 1,19,300 cusecs, adding that a total of 1,23,600 cusecs of water was being provided to the provinces.
It was noticed that in June last year, water inflow was 3,75,100 cusecs while this year it dropped to 1,12,900 cusecs.
In addition, the storage last year was 3.6 MAF and this year it was only 0.22 MAF, thus revealing a big gap in storage capacity and inflow.
The IRSA spokesman said that the current situation of water shortage can get better only if the country receives an exceptionally good spell of rain in the forthcoming monsoon season, or an early glacial melting fill the dams to full capacity.
The spokesman said that if it did not happen, the situation could get worse and the forthcoming winter and next year summer crop may get badly affected.
Earlier, the Pakistan Council of Research in Water Resources issued a warning that the country may run dry by 2025.
It said that the country touched the "water stress line" in 1990 and crossed the "water scarcity line" in 2005.

Mohammad Arshad Islamabad The United Arab Emirates (UAE) has expressed keen interest in supporting Pakistan in the water sector.
In this regard, UAE has expressed readiness to provide immediate and technical solutions to the ongoing water issues in Metropolitan Karachi.
In this connection, a delegation from UAE headed by Emirati Ambassador Hamad Obaid Ibrahim Al Zaabi, Wednesday, held a meeting with Federal Minister for Energy Syed Ali Zafar here and discussed issues relating bilateral relations and mutual cooperation.
The guests indicated their capacities in waste water treatment, revamping of waste water treatment besides installation of new water treatment plants to fulfill the requirement of Karachi city.
The Minister thanked the delegation for their plans to invest in this much needed sector and said that there is wide opportunity to invest in various others sectors of Pakistan.
Minister affirmed that he is committed to layout plan to counter water scarcity issue and has constituted the team of experts in this regard.
He recommended the delegation to hold meeting with officials of Water Resources Division and Provincial Government of Sindh to discuss the feasibility and implementation of their investment plan in detail.

Peerzada Sayeed Srinagar, Jun 26 (KNS): The residents living in Tangdar villages of north Kashmir are up in arms against the Public Health Engineering (PHE) department for failing to provide adequate water supply to them.
The villages including Sadpora and Dhani are facing immense hardships in absence of the water.
They said that the authorities are forcing the womenfolk to walk almost three kilometers to fetch water from Nallah Qazinag.
The residents said that the 22 households are without water from last 12 days but the authorities are ignoring their plights.
They said that in Bukhian Tangdar, Sangdi Nawan Gabrah, the residents are without water from last three months.
Niyaz Mohammad, a local said that due to rupturing of pipeline, the residents are not getting water from past three months but the authorities have failed to repair the pipeline since then, leaving the residents to lurch at large.
Exen PHE, Rajinder Singh told Kashmir News Service (KNS) that they are sending water tanks regularly to villages and the problem will be resolved very soon once the pipeline will be sanctioned.
(KNS)

Bhubaneswar: The Public Health Engineering Organisation (Pheo) employees have gone on an indefinite strike from Tuesday in support of their demands triggering fears of water scarcity in the city.
Nearly 100 employees working with the three Pheo divisions here are demanding a salary hike, regularisation of jobs and implementation of welfare schemes for them and their family members.
"We have long been suppressed by the government.
Senior Pheo officials have sought to assure people that water supply would not be affected because of the strike and that they were ready to tackle any situation.
"The government will consider their demands if they are genuine, but water supply will not be hampered.
The agitating employees are mainly the human resource consultants.
Most of our ground-level workers are on the field taking care of the water supply network," said Pheo superintending engineer C.R.
Jena.
Despite assurance by the senior officials, reports of late supply of drinking water in various parts of the city came in on Tuesday from Rasulgarh, GGP Colony, Patia and some other places.
Today (Tuesday), it started around 4pm and continued till 6pm," said Patia resident Ratikant Ojha.

Srinagar, Jun 26: The residents living in Tanghdar villages of north Kashmir are up in arms against the Public Health Engineering (PHE) department for failing to provide adequate water supply to them.
The villages including Sadpora and Dhani are facing immense hardships in absence of the water.
They said that the authorities are forcing the womenfolk to walk almost three kilometers to fetch water from Nallah Qazinag.
The residents said that the 22 households are without water from last 12 days but the authorities are ignoring their plights.
They said that in Bukhian Tanghdar, Sangdi Nawan Gabrah, the residents are without water from last three months.
Niyaz Mohammad, a local said that due to rupturing of pipeline, the residents are not getting water from past three months but the authorities have failed to repair the pipeline since then, leaving the residents to lurch at large.
Exen PHE, Rajinder Singh said that they are sending water tanks regularly to villages and the problem will be resolved very soon once the pipeline will be sanctioned.

More than 500 widows in Kiserian will get free supply of clean water after years of suffering.
A US-based non-governmental organisation, Well of Hope, has drilled a borehole at a cost of Sh4 million.
Most of the women were neglected by immediate family members after losing their husbands, and have been living in Naro Moru village in Kiserian for the past five years.
"Since we shifted to this area five years ago, we have had no clean water, while most of us had to go days without water only relying on well-wishers to help us," said Janet Mukami, a resident.
According to Well of Hope Director Zipporah Nat, members of the host community will also benefit.
Nat said the water was for domestic use and irrigation to enable the women engage in farming and other businesses to sustain themselves.
"We have been thinking of what to do to raise the living standards of these women.
She appealed to the county government to look into the issue of water scarcity, saying the locals rely on water vendors who exploit them.
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India is placed at 120th among 122 countries in the water quality index.
A Niti Aayog report titled ‘Composite Water Management Index’ (CWMI), on June 14 revealed that India is suffering from “the worst water crisis” in its history, with about 600 million people facing high to extreme water stress and about 200,000 people dying every year due to inadequate access to safe water.
The report released by Minister for Water Resources Nitin Gadkari said that the demand for potable water will outdo supply by 2030 if necessary steps are not taken.
“By 2030, the country’s water demand is projected to be twice the available supply, implying severe water scarcity for hundreds of millions of people and an eventual 6 pc loss in the country’s GDP,” the report noted.
In fact, by 2020, 21 major cities, including Delhi, Bangalore, and Hyderabad, are expected to reach zero groundwater levels, affecting access for 100 million people,” said the report.
Recently Shimla, a hill town in the northern state of Himachal Pradesh, ran out of water and the residents waited for four days to get water.
What should the government do?
India could learn from countries like Israel and Singapore on implementing a centralised water management system.
Niti Aayog has proposed a few initiatives to curb the water crisis: Establishing a ‘Composite Water Management Index’ for the country.
State governments should build supply networks and limit private groundwater access to ensure sustainable water use in cities, and prevent the rationing and strife witnessed in the water crisis of Cape Town.