There is a need to focus on causes of water stress and scarcity instead of hiding behind climate change alone, said S. Janakarajan, president, South Asia Consortium for Interdisciplinary Water Resources Studies.
Mr. Janakarajan was delivering a talk on “Increasing urban water stress hiding behind climate change” organised as a part of the Sustainability Speaks series by The Madras Chamber.
Things were no longer sustainable and that the entire ecosystem and activities in the biosphere were under great stress which would only lead to bigger concerns in future. “There is a growing gap between supply and demand when we see how 11 out of India’s 20 largest cities are at extreme risk because of lack of sources of freshwater supply,” he said.
He highlighted the growing urban challenges, including population density increasing, mindless urban expansion, unscientific waste management and neglect of waterbodies. “There is a lack of scientific flood management and used water management practices in place. In a city such as Chennai, nearly 96% of rainwater flows into the sea,” he said.
Stressing on the need to evolve and work towards recycling every drop of water, Mr. Janakarajan said the focus should be on recovering ecological hotspots, including over 4,000 tanks which can provide abundant water supply to Chennai and the metropolitan area region, implement a scientific urban and peri-urban land use policy and work towards saving and rejuvenating Adyar, Kosasthalaiyar and Cooum rivers which would save the city from floods. He stressed on the need to bridge the gap between policy and action as well.
