SHOULD INDIA GO THE SAO PAULO WAY?

Sao Paulo, capital of Brazil, is undergoing a severe shortage of water. There is no water in taps five days a week. On the other two days only intermittent  supply. The dam supplying water to the city holds now only around 5% of its capacity! Why this has happened to a country with the biggest river, densest jungles and most fertile land?

For more than half a century, they destroyed their jungles to reclaim land for growing cash crops; For export they encouraged meat and poultry industries; they mined extensively for minerals, coal and diamond.  They got more than what they wanted. They became prosperous and a shining example of a backward country trying to compare itself with very developed countries.

But alas, in a decade it is more likely to become the poorest country begging for everything.  All because of  going for industrial revolution to uplift its poor and the nation itself, to the exclusion of  all other means.

Is there a lesson we should learn from Brazil's experiment? Yes.

(1) The PM should make sure that as much as possible ONLY non-fertile land is used for industrial development. Especially there should NOT be any conversion of fertile land in the process of industrialization.

(2) There should be a very strict watch on the consumption levels of natural resources like water being used by industries. A very large part of India being dependent ONLY on monsoons for both potable and agricultural needs, as far as possible industries should NOT be allowed to exploit ground water so much that the ground water levels go down drastically over a couple of years. Industries should be made to use more of recycled water not as an alternative, but at the stage of their planning stage itself.

(3)  Facilities to store rain water should be extensive and newly constructed buildings should have invariably that facility. Village ponds should be given special care and there should be enough of them in each village.

(4) The long talked about plan to connect all rivers in India so that floods could be controlled and also river water could be well distributed, should be taken up forthwith and completed as soon as possible.

(5) Dams should be constructed wherever possible to save water.

(6) Wherever substantial stored water is used for recreational purposes or in places like hotels and restaurants, separate water tax should be levied to restrict consumption.

(7) Soft drink companies waste a great lot of ground water. They should be taxed very high to reduce their consumption. They should also be allowed only a limited quantity of water, both ground and recycled.

These and other steps should be taken as a top priority. That is the only way we can save India in the long run as a viable nation. Otherwise by the time we should be celebrating 100th year of our independence, we might as well be a dependent nation of one of the big powers at that time!

http://www.globalresearch.ca/drought-in-sao-paulo-megacity-on-verge-of-crisis-as-water-rationing-shutoffs-continue/5439225