Years of excessive use of water for irrigating fields, a drying trend from global warming, a record drought and astronomical scale pollution all adds up to trouble in India.
Harvests go down, farmer income the same direction, malnourishment and desperation up. So much according to The Star / India: Dying of thirst a family was murdered in a riot over water. (We need a -cide word somewhere between homi- and geno- for this!)
“We are running out of it, and crops are going to slow. We will see more hunger, more disputes and clashes. More theft.”
– Naranjan Singh, a 63-year-old farmer
“In a decade, India could look like Darfur. You have people running out of water, and it’s a recipe for killing. It really does make people desperate. You go without it for just three days and you’ve had it.”
– Vandana Shiva, nuclear physicist and water activist
“Climate change is threatening our ecosystems, water scarcity is becoming a way of life and pollution is a growing threat to our health and habitat.”
– Prime Minister Manmohan Singh
Over-use of water is a problem that has created as the so-called “Green Revolution” of decades past sought to address other issues. Human caused depletion was confirmed by NASA satellites last month. (Source: NASA data shows groundwater trouble)