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Chennai, India's sixth biggest city, has a water crisis
- discordance 7y agoAnyone know whatever happened to Dean Kamen's Slingshot vapor distillation unit? That was big news 10 years ago
- cconcepts 7y agoWas thinking this recently. Saw the Netflix show. From my very limited understanding it seems the cost per litre of safe water could be prohibitive but I don't know that.
- pergadad 7y agoMy main memory of Chennai (formerly called Madras) was the awfully dirty waterways in the city. I think it used to be a river but was when I visited in the 2000s basically a gigantic trashdump, smelly and rotting and probably spreading all sorts of disease. Utter and complete mismanagement by the city authorities and of course high disrespect by many of the local population for their lifeline. This is how waterways used to look in 18-1950 in Europe, with the added issue of plastic and electronic waste and of course much higher popolulation density.
- ignoramous 7y agoThis one: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cooum_River https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cooum_River There's also an effort to clean it that has gotten no where due to, well, corruption and negligence of the officials.
- kjhjkhjk 7y agoBecause of Hindi Imposition.
- Proven 7y agotl;dr - it's not climate changes but bad luck and an incompetent, oversized government. "The issue plaguing Chennai is a mix of over consumption and low rainfall during 2018 North East Monsoon" Overconsumption can be managed with market prices, but the socialist-statist mindset of both voters and government employees guarantee that resources do not get used to their optimal effect. But hey, let's fix this with more of what doesn't work (bigger government, more corrupt bureaucracy, CO2 taxes, whatever).
- noisy_boy 7y agoSome more details/background on the water crisis here: https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/why-chennais-water-crisis-should-worry-you/articleshow/69884460.cms https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/why-chennais-water...
- tsjq 7y agoDec 2019: "why Chennai, India's Sixth biggest City, gets flooded from one night's rain."
- ramraj07 7y agoAfter spending my first summer in Chennai this time after a decade living in the states, I wanted to point out some things: 1. Water crisis is bad but a good fraction of people (most of the upper and middle class) are getting by through exploitation of ground water. My guess would be half of the city still has usable ground water accessible through bore wells including where I live. However these Wells going dry is a common occurence. Someone is digging a deeper well every day in my street alone (no exaggeration). Heck, my house with 4 tenants is already exhausting it's 5th borewell. The day these Wells collectively stop giving water is when things are going to get very interesting. 2. The government here doesn't really consider water as an utility it's actually responsible for. All the articles you see are mostly talking about drinking water. The pipe system in the city is barely capable of only providing drinking water to most people even if most of the water sources are full. It is everyone's assumption that if you need more than a few tens of liters per day per person for things like showers that's completely on you, not the government. This is not going to change anytime soon. The entire plumbing system is riddled with leaks everywhere and no metering. People have also built systems to abuse this plumbing (by using motors) so unless we get a sudden abundance of water this system cannot provide the water the city needs. 3. Most importantly, if ground water runs out, the city really doesn't have any alternative for water in any developed country sense. No usable River for hundreds of miles and every river that CAN provide water originates in a different state and none of them are prepared to share their resources. 4. Chennai the city alone has more people than most Scandinavian countries. The desalination plants are not going to provide more than a few tens of liters per head even if their capacity multiplies by ten. 5. While there's always blame on people here for wasting water, I'd argue that it's outrageous. Even the worst offenders don't waste that much water compared to any Western standards. My household is definitely in the lower quartiles of how much water we use but I estimate we use at best 50-70 liters of water per head per day including everything. Even if I don't want to think like this, I subconsciously think twice before using the toilet (maybe if I hold it for a while I can go one less time?). People here should not be blamed for abusing water, water should be a basic necessity for our lives. 6. Just three years back this city literally drowned in a flood that was far worse than what happened in Houston.
- paulcole 7y ago> It is everyone's assumption that if you need more than a few tens of liters per day per person for things like showers that's completely on you Maybe they’re right? If there’s not enough water for everyone to use it like it falls from the sky then maybe we need to rethink how we use water?
- thewhitetulip 7y agoWe need to focus extensively on tree plantation and rainwater harvesting. I don't understand why governments don't focus on this
- asicsp 7y agoWhen I was in Bengaluru, I used to volunteer for tree plantation events run by Say Trees. IIRC, they had around 90% success rate of planted trees growing well after maintaining them in non-monsoon season of first year of plantation. It is time people take up and support initiatives like this, in addition to looking for government driven programs.
- totaldude87 7y agoWell, not limited to Chennai but to entire India 1) save rain water, harvest them properly 2) ration water , basic needs are free, like x litres per family but over use is charged 3) link rivers On top of all this , make people aware that water is not something you can waste just like that .. Ignorance is not bliss
- vram22 7y ago>3) link rivers I'm not an expert on this one, but my gut feel is that linking rivers will probably greatly change and likely destroy ecosystems. This idea has been floating round in India from the time I was in my teens or a bit later, and there has been both support and opposition to it from various groups. IMO, at least the wildlife - both flora and fauna, not to mention micro-organisms, will drastically change (and some of them will likely be heavily affected), due to the sudden physical and chemical changes (like differing levels of dissolved salts and other chemicals, silt, salinity or freshness), of some rivers versus others, when they are linked together. A better idea is probably much more intensive and extensive rain water harvesting, building thousands more ponds and "tanks" (term here for larger ponds) for water collection, water usage reduction (where it makes sense), water conservation, and majorly, afforestation. For afforestation (and preventing or reducing deforestation, first), it is well known that forests increase rainfall and also moderate and buffer its dispersal once it is on/in the earth, and reduce/slow down its discharge from the ecosystem, thereby proving more water throughout the year, even in dry seasons. See the book The Forest and The Sea by Marston Bates [1]. I had read it as a teenager. A very good exposition of the many interacting factors in natural systems like forests and seas, symbiosis, and all the benefits they provide for humans. [1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marston_Bates https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marston_Bates https://www.britannica.com/biography/Marston-Bates https://www.britannica.com/biography/Marston-Bates https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/177375.Marston_Bates https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/177375.Marston_Bates https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1481687.The_Forest_and_the_Sea https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1481687.The_Forest_and_t... https://textbookhistory.com/marston-bates%E2%80%99-moment-of-zen/ https://textbookhistory.com/marston-bates%E2%80%99-moment-of... From above link: [ "Though Rachel Carson is usually credited for raising the public’s awareness of ecology, as Marion Clawson noted, it was Marston Bates’ 1960 book, The Forest and the Sea, not Silent Spring, that made “ecology a household word.” ] https://www.amazon.com/Forest-Sea-Marston-Bates/dp/B000P0D61A https://www.amazon.com/Forest-Sea-Marston-Bates/dp/B000P0D61... The Indian government, NGOs and corporates could look to countries like Israel (which seem to have done wonders in the desert with drip irrigation and many other techniques - I've only heard a bit about it, some from my grandfather, who was a scientist in the field, and visited there), to solve the water issues and also improve resource usage / conservation and also better and more agriculture production, all at the same time.
- ignoramous 7y agoIndia needs tougher water recycling laws like Portugal or Israel. It also needs to illegalize bore wells, whilst also needing a better way to preserve its rivers and harvesting the rain water. Madras isn't the only city on the brink, every major metro in India is at risk but like the proverbial frog in boiling water, the law makers are asleep at the wheel. Or, may be, they are simply disconnected from reality as they can personally afford solutions to problems (owing to their vast resources) that most of the population can't.
- distant_hat 7y agoThe law makers aren't asleep at the wheel, they are actively profiting from the crisis. The water tankers are run by local politicians and they make a lot of money from this scarcity. In Bangalore they actively sabotage water supply pipes so that you are forced to purchase water from the tanker mafia.
- wtdata 7y agoI think you just don't understand how things work in India (neither did I until I lived there for a while). The authorities don't police anything (the locals literally argue with the police, and carry on what they are doing even if the police tells them they can't do it), the only time you need the authorities to get something you have to bribe them (a small amount in westerns standards, but still...). People don't care about their surroundings like they do in Europe. Your just throw garbage in the ground (also because the bins are mostly non existent). You have buildings from the 80's without plumbing (in some of them they are added after, outside the building). There is chaos in any activity (traffic is just surreal). A good part of people seem destitute, yet they have good mobile phones. Your have 3 people doing the job of 1 in a lot of places. Example: In a restaurant there is someone getting your orders, someone putting the table and getting the orders to the table, and then someone that stays around serving you... literally putting the food on your dish, not just when they bring the food, but there, checking whenever your plate is empty and then filling it (you know, like your grandmother in a southern European country does). Outside bathrooms in a restaurant, there is someone just there to keep them clean, permanently. Yet the bathrooms are not clean at all. All in all, India just defies your (at least mine) logic. I am worried about what will happen when it stops growing in the 10s% like it has been growing until now.
- viig99 7y agoThe water woes can be solved easily if people with sense start rain water harvesting. Every year Chennai drowns in rains, if one can store all the excess water there should be no water scarcity in the summer, it's just people not giving a fuck. Too worried about stupid shit like language, cows and dick head politicians to care about drinking water.
- gingabriska 7y agoYou can startup around this and take advantage of this opportunity if you see any business here. I mean if it's easy as you make it appear, you might as well supply water and beat those tankers on the prices.
- baybal2 7y agoPakistan and urban Bangladesh are another great examples of a very watery places with severest water shortages. Both get devastating floods, and have very high waterflow rivers, but people in cities can't do a thing about having no tap water.
- pwodhouse 7y agoIt's harsh, but Nature doesn't care about your feelings. Westerners put 1million people in a region that can support 10million; they get to use 10x water. They aren't stealing Chennai's water. 10million people in a region that can only support 1million isn't going to work. * Westerners do steal water for evil Nestle bottled water and the like, but that's different from local plumbing use.
- diveanon 7y agoThis is so hypocritical it is hilarious. Phoenix Los Angeles Vegas etc The US and many other western countries will face this crisis soon enough, and at a lower population than India.
- dang 7y agoWe detached this subthread from https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20255155 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20255155 and marked it off-topic.
- lota-putty 7y ago1. They need to bore tunnels in western ghats, collect excess rain water west of western ghats to divert towards east of western ghats. 2. Rainwater harvesting should be mandated for every house in district & state capitals.
- vram22 7y ago>1. They need to bore tunnels in western ghats, collect excess rain water west of western ghats to divert towards east of western ghats. That might cause an ecological disaster on par with what I described here in this thread: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20256517 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20256517
- fervorandall 7y agoThe politicians and bureaucracy complete lack of action is astounding. I believe Bangalore will soon face similar situation. Politician's themselves profiting of sand mining from rivers, not taking any action to prevent pollution of lakes even though some of them have caught fire(the infamous Bellandur lake), allowing encroachment of water ways etc. Any one of this should have caused people to vote out those in power or raise voice against the bureaucracy. But no, it will not happen - why? My guess is people will continue to vote on religious and cast lines. People will be divided based on any difference they can find between them and will never fight together for what matters. Absolute horrible of a shit show it is....
- klyrs 7y ago> Politician's themselves profiting of sand mining from rivers... who is buying all this sand?
- monktastic1 7y agoDevelopers, presumably, to make things like concrete and glass.
- sateesh 7y agoNormal populace primarily for house construction.
- primitivesuave 7y agoMy dad grew up poor in Chennai before immigrating to the US, and all of his horror stories revolve around the failing/nonexistent infrastructure. According to relatives who still live there, it is now a common practice in Chennai to have variable pricing based on the cleanliness of the water - you can get a 20-50% discount if you're willing to accept dirty yellow water and boil/filter it yourself. The thousands of trucks that carry water into the city now drive 2-3x farther to find water, some from dubious polluted sources. Several years ago during a severe flood, a relative of mine recounted how she had to pour water through a cloth sheet to remove live worms and bugs. Hopefully they finally find the political will to address the situation, but I wouldn't count on it.
- thallukrish 7y agoHarvesting the rain water is the only way. Desalination could be another way. But in general, keeping rivers alive, lakes, ponds and smaller water bodies alive is the key. Earth has everything for everyone's need but not greed - Mahatma Gandhi.
- snorrah 7y agoI remember watching Quantum of Solace and being so disappointed the precious resource the bad guys wanted to control was just water. How could that be precious? It’s everywhere! I feel pretty stupid now.
- rramadass 7y agoWatch the documentary "Blue Gold: World Water Wars" to understand the scale of the problem worldwide. Most people have no idea of what is in the offing w.r.t. fresh water reserves. In fact many of the wealthiest on the planet have already brought up land containing fresh water reserves as a hedge against the future.