Bullish on India | Vishwanath Srikantaiah on Water Vision@2047 and every Indian's access to free, clean, drinking water

These aspects have been articulated as early as 1992 in what are called Dublin principles that have four principles and we need to act on that. The first principle is that freshwater is a finite and vulnerable resource and should be managed appropriately.

The second part of the vision is water should be managed in a participatory fashion and all citizens, communities, and the state should be involved in planning, design and implementation and management of water.

The third aspect is that women are at the centre of water use, especially at domestic level. So, women should play the most important role in the participation in the planning, design, and implementation of skills.

And fourth is that water has a social value, but also an economic value. So, it has got a human rights component as well as an economic component. So therefore, water should be available for all irrespective of their affordability, but beyond a certain limit it should be priced so that it is used judiciously and conservatively.

Can you list what specific steps are required to achieve this vision?

The first aspect is to articulate the vision in policies at a National and State level. This is a comprehensive restructuring from the Government who will need to clearly articulate water policies with milestones and goals. Water is a state subject; therefore, the national water policy should be the guiding paper. But at the state level, every state based on its own characteristics should articulate a vision and goal with milestones.

Second, you should create the right institutions for governance which have adequate human resource capabilities. For example, in Bengaluru, the Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Board (BWSSB) should not just have engineers, but also hydrologists, hydrogeologists and people who understand the ecological role of water plus community organisers and social mobilisers who can reach out to vulnerable sections of the population with the right message. We need well rounded institutions capable of understanding water as a social, economic, and environmental code.

What are the potential challenges in achieving this vision?

The challenge is that there is a sort of a mismatch between the political democratic articulation for water and what is required in the long run. So, we fear pricing water at its true ecological cost while capturing the human right to water. We must recognise that we must get universal water for all and it should be free and accessible. But unless we price water correctly, we will misuse it and the institutions will not have the capability of investing in infrastructure to be able to get it to everybody. Drinking water, water for food and for bathing should be free or very cheap, but the water used to wash automobiles and swimming pools should be priced so that the institution can collect, treat, and leave it into the environment for reuse without polluting it.

What are your suggestions to mitigate these challenges?

There is an urgent need to build the right institutions which can deliver design and solutions. The price for water in Bengaluru is 95 rupees per kilo litres. How many of us are willing to pay the true costs so that it does not pollute the environment? Because the affluent also get the subsidy, the poor don't get water. Everybody should have a universal connection to water and the first let's say 50 litres per person per day should be free. But beyond that 50, we must realise the value and we must pay for the pollution. The accepted principle is that the polluter pays so that the institutions can collect and treat it.

What kind of participation is required from the public to make this vision a reality by 2047?

The participation should start at a democracy framework of a Gram Panchayat at the village level where water is discussed at every Gram Sabha and at the city level at a Ward Sabha where the local problems including access to water, pollution issues, management of lakes and rivers, solid waste management, are discussed by the community and they agree on a plan to clean up their resources and make water available to all.

How do you think this will benefit the people?

Everybody knows the value of water once they run out of it and now that people are starting to realise and face the problem, this is a time for a conversation as to how do we create abundance. In the curve of a nation's history, you go through a development pathway. First, you lack finances to be able to invest in making sure that the environment is clean, called the Kuznets curve. At a certain point when development reaches a certain stage like we will reach in the next 10 to 15 years, we will have the funds to be able to invest in pollution control, pollution management as well as keeping the environment pristine. Right now, we are consuming the environment. We should start to conserve the environment and that phase will come with an extra equilibrium.

Anything else you would like to add?

We still do not realise that every individual action has an impact on water and we need to build that awareness amongst our citizenry especially the young people. The plastic chips packet you throw, the garbage you leave and even automobile emission has an impact on water. We should become aware of every activity we do and we have the chance and opportunity to do that.