mpact on Women and Children
In an article dated 2020, ‘The Cancer Institute in Patna and Mahavir Cancer Institute found that in Chhapra village, out of 44 hand pumps in 100 households, the level of arsenic was higher than the WHO permissible limit.’
The same report highlights, that according to doctors, due to exposure to high arsenic concentration during pregnancy, risks of miscarriage, stillbirth, preterm birth, low birth weight, and neonatal mortality, get heightened by six times. In 2017, a report titled ‘Groundwater Arsenic Contamination and its Health Effects in India’ was published, but it didn’t receive much attention. One case mentioned in the report was of a woman from Nadia district of West Bengal, whose first pregnancy ended in preterm birth. She had a miscarriage the second time, and the third time, she had to face neonatal death due to arsenic-contaminated water. The arsenic concentration in her drinking water was 1,617 ppb, and in her urine, it was 1,474 ppb.
The Public Health Engineering Department in Bihar is working to provide clean drinking water to residents of affected areas like Bhojpur and Buxar. Under the Namami Gange and Rural Water Supply Department, a water supply project has been started in Uttar Pradesh. Under these schemes, household tap connections are being distributed, but the challenge is that groundwater is contaminated with arsenic. Even if water is supplied through taps, it will be considered contaminated. The aim of the Jal Jeevan Mission is to provide tap water to every rural family by 2024. However, when we look at the figures, we found that penetration of the Jal Jeevan Mission in rural Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal is abysmally low
About 10 kilometres from the district headquarters in Jamui district is a village called Manjhwe. A government tap is installed at the end of year in this village, from where all the villagers fetch water. The wells in the village have dried up. Now, water is available at the depth of more than 700 ft, which the residents of the Dalit neighbourhood cannot afford. Due to water scarcity in summers, many women go to their maternal homes. Many young men in the village are unable to get married because if a woman gets married, she has to go far from the village to fetch water. Although a water tank has been installed in this village, there is no water supply.
Nazma Bee from Khajuri Khas in Delhi says that the water is being supplied in the area through tanker. She shares that several people complain of stomach ache and upset after consuming the water, which may have been caused by unclean pipes, contaminated water, etc, and urges the authority to look into the matter.
It is important to mention here that there are several low-income colonies like Khajuri Khas where water for drinking and for other essential activities is supplied through tank. Unclean water, supply pipes and tanks can hence affect a large number of individuals residing here.
What about the agriculture or cultivable land?
On one side of the challenges, ate those who do not have much choice and access to resources to avoid drinking and consuming contaminated water, while on the other are those who are plagued with issues related to drought and water shortage. Where there is contaminated water, people fall sick, and where there is no water, the fields are dry. As a result, farmers are losing interest in farming.
In India, more than three-quarters of rural women depend on land for employment, while this figure is close to 60% for men. This is because the fields are drying up due to lack of timely rain. Crops are ruined waiting for water. Overall, farming is not as profitable as it used to be, leading men to migrate to cities for jobs.
In such a scenario, women farmers become responsible for taking care of the field and water the crops, despite the fact that the true ownership of land lies with mostly men (around 87% agricultural land are owned by men against 13% of land owned by women farmers). This add to the woes of the women of such families, who are already burdened with activities like fetching water, arranging and preparing food, taking care of livestock, and other family chores. Rakesh, Mundawra village in Rajasthan, speaks to one of the Mobile Vaani volunteers, Ajay Kumar and shares that their fields have dried up and there is hardly any water left for farming. He further shares that women have to travel as far as 5 to 7 Kms for fetching water, and supply of water from the Govt. is also inadequate to take care of their needs. During grass-root consultations conducted in Jamui’s Gidhaur block’s Ratanpur panchayat, participating villagers shared that there used to be three crops in a year, but now it is difficult to have even one crop, and even that incurs losses. Although most farmers have installed borewells in their fields, the water extracted is not enough to irrigate entire fields, leading many to abandon the activity and migrate out. In such scenarios, the women who stays back faces difficulties and additional burden of taking care of livestock and watering the fields.
Those men who migrate to cities for earning a livelihood are mostly working as labourers there. But water crisis is also present in the cities. For example, many labourers who have migrated to Delhi in search of livelihood, are staying in camps like that of Navjeevan camp in Govindpuri. Rohit, from the camp reports that although Delhi government has promised free water supply to the residents, money is being extracted by the service-men to release water, who demands 100 rupees per person to release water. Those who cannot or do not provide the money are left to drink polluted water or stay thirsty. In a conversation with Mobile Vaani community reporter, Nand Kishore, Babloo Kumar from Anand Vihar shared that because of supply of polluted water, several residents have to spend at least 700/800 rupees a month to get clean water. Workers coming to the city need water for drinking and daily chores, including bathing, washing, and sanitary needs. In rented accommodations, landlords install meters for water, and these worker families end up spending on water-bills too, in summer which can go up to 500/700 rupees. Many a time, several families need to spend separately for clean drinking water.
The water crisis in India is deepening day by day. In a study conducted by NITI Aayog in 2018, India ranked 120th out of 122 countries in the list of water crisis. This situation could be even more alarming. Maybe it has already become!
