Urban water issues

A sequel to Municipal Water and Wastewater Treatment

Hi! We’re back again

We travel quite a long distance to reach your city (Bangalore, Hyderabad, Mumbai etc.), sometimes between 100 – 200 kms.

Sometimes your city is higher than our river or lake, so we have to climb up.

Where does the water come from?

Energy

Do you know how much energy it takes to pump us to your tap?

Plenty.

Infact, in many cities, the water supply corporation uses more electricity than any other organization

Energy More the water that flows out of your taps, more

the water that needs to be pumped and energy use is only increasing

And as you all know, we need to conserve energy.

So don’t waste water

Wastewater treatment

More you waste, more is the wastewater generated

If your city cannot treat all its wastewater, all the muck gets into rivers and lakes close to your city

Your water source then gets polluted

Not only are there more and more of you in the city, each of you is also using too much water

You wash your cars with a hose pipe, run us down the sink thoughtlessly, pour buckets of us on your driveway (and sometimes even on the road!)

The amount that the municipal body supplies is never enough.

Never enough

Never enough And do you know who is affected the most – the poor people in the slums

These people don’t have enough clean water to wash, bathe and drink

They end up with diseases

You all can also fall sick with these diseases. Have any of you had cholera, typhoid, dysentry, diarrhoea or jaundice? They are all spread through water.

So, isn’t it time, you take care and conserve water.

Groundwater woes

Ground water tables are falling in almost every city, some to a very large extent.

This is due to unsustainable extraction and reduced recharge of groundwater.

Instead of using water carefully, many of you dig deep borewells and pull me out of the ground

You don’t realize there’s only so much of me under the ground

Groundwater woes

You cover up the soil with concrete buildings and tar roads.

When it rains I can’t go back into my home under the ground and stay there until you really need me

Instead I flow along with oil and grease and muck into a sewage drain. I am clean enough to be of use, but you make me all mucky

Ground water woes

Earlier I used to flow into the lakes in your city and slowly seep down into my home under the ground.

But now – what lakes?

You have land-filled them and constructed big buildings on them

Ground water woes

When ground water is polluted, it’s very difficult and sometimes close to impossible to clean up

And the lakes that you have not land-filled, you have filled with sewage and garbage. The fish and plants in the lake die and the polluted water seeps down into my home under the ground.

Ground water woes

When I am in my home, I dissolve some chemicals from the rocks and soil that make my home. In small quantities some of these chemicals are good for you.

Since you are pulling me out and not putting me back again, there’s less of me under the ground.

Now the concentration of the chemicals dissolved in me can increase and I can even be harmful to your health

Ground water

So don’t think I am an endless resource. Be careful, one day I may just run outHarvest rainwater and see that I can go back into my home.I will wait there until you really need me

Conserve water• Use water carefully and

– We can save energy– We can conserve precious water resources– We can be healthy– We can have a future where we have enough water

• You may be able to afford your water bills now, but