Not only no water, but few if any toilets as well. God only knows where folks go to pee, or, dare I say it, deficate. The answer is wherever they can: in a back alley, by the side of the road, in the open fields.
22
@Stanley Jones India has made remarkable strides in being defecation free and will be so by 2021 or so.
Also, Chennai belongs to the developed, educated part of India and has always been much less prone to defecation.
28
"Life in a City Without Water"?
How about all the drought-ridden cities in the USA in the Southwest or Calofornia?
Of cities like San Juan, New Orleans, Houston, or Flint, Mich., which had no potable drinking water after so-called natural disasters or toxic political decisions, thanks to the inability of FEMA or federal, state, and local governments to react properly?
"Heck of a job, Brownie!"
18
How tragic for these poor people... trump still denying climate change. God help the world if he’s re-elected...
47
The 21st century could be the saddest century for human beings. Millions, maybe billions, may die of drought, famine, and temperature extremes if nothing is done. In Yemen, hundreds of people are dying each day of starvation. In India, people are fleeing villages across the nation because 43% of the country is in drought.
One Indian government think tank has estimated that twenty-one cities in India (including major cities such as Delhi, Bengaluru, Chennai and Hyderabad) will be out of groundwater by 2020.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/jun/12/indian-villages-lie-empty-as-drought-forces-thousands-to-flee
We need to see this as a global problem because this same fate is coming for all of us. What we see in Chennai today could easily happen in Phoenix and Las Vegas within 20 years.
If people are left to die, they will turn on each other and that fighting can easily come to us. Who wants a world where desperate masses get control of India or Pakistan’s atomic bombs? Or desperate U.S. citizens join militias and take to the streets with their military-grade guns?
We need to manage water, develop renewable energy, empower women with personal agency, improve access to birth control, and design a sustainable circular economy. If we don’t do that, we may watch everything that humanity has created go up in the flames of global civilization collapse.
68
As Walter White as a conservationist would say, "We ARE the locusts!"
16
1.4B people. 18% of the people on this planet live in India. At the rate their population is growing, they'll pass China in five years. This is a Third World country where most of those people live in poverty in possibly the most polluted and ecologically destroyed environment on the planet. Sooner than later, India will be unlivable. But they do have nuclear weapons.
55
I am impressed by how these mindless population control posts pop up on any post regarding India. How about some facts? Tamil Nadu, where Chennai is, has a BELOW-replacement fertility rate of 1.7. Why? Because it has high literacy rates, overall development and female empowerment, especially relative to northern Indian states. In fact, India's overall fertility rate is 2.2 and nearing the replacement value: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_states_and_union_territories_of_India_by_fertility_rate
A dramatic drop-off in fertility to 0 or 1 as suggested by some of the commenters here is also disastrous for a country. Very soon you have a large population of elderly with no working-age population capable of sustaining them. China is already facing the extreme challenges this poses and have abandoned the one child policy accordingly. As many scholars have already pointed out, there is no need for forced one child policies -- they are counter-productive, especially in a liberal democracy like India. Instead, increase female literacy and empowerment. In southern India, this has already paid dividends with respect to family planning and overall development metrics like literacy and life expectancy.
So, yes, there are serious challenges here. But a lot of it simply comes from development: India's economy is urbanizing, as it rightly should. With strategy and planning, these water needs can be met. That should be our focus, not repeating Malthusian bromides from the 1970s.
131
I was happy to see so many comments citing overpopulation as the main problem here!! That is the biggest issue in my estimation for the majority off the ills the world is facing, all peoples, all species! The NYT readership seems aware, but the politicians......... I don't find even one that I feel has real vision. If a politician cannot see the toll that the human population is taking on the planet and on all of life they will not get my vote. And the religious groups, all of them, all completely insane. Conquer through the womb, out breed all other creeds. Total and complete insanity!!
34
Chennai's current situation is the result of various factors going back a century. The heart of the original city was a tiny strip of about 10 miles adjoining the sea and not more than 2 miles wide. Surrounding this were large lakes and a network of canals. Instead of building around the lakes,the city, even under British rule, chose to drain the lakes and build what has become the new heart of the city - T. Nagar and Nungambakkam. This encroachment continues to this day and several lakes have vanished to give way to townships. Add to this is the divisive way of Indian politics - states were created along native languages. Chennai, and the state of Tamilnadu, had copious water supply from the rivers that originate in neighboring states but these were gradually plugged by those states, leaving Chennai to the mercy of a short 2 month monsoon. Next is a problem endemic all over the world. Lack of opportunities in smaller towns results in a population shift towards larger cities that lack the infrastructure. To add to all these is Prime Minister Modi's apathy towards southern India, an area where his party drew a blank in the recent elections. His formula is simple - vote for me and you will see development. The sum total of all this is the slow decline of a city that has a remarkable history and a culture. Chennai is the manufacturing base for BMW, Ford, Hyundai, as well as a IT workforce as large as in Bangalore. Some solution has to be found fast.
47
As someone who grew up in Chennai, this isn’t surprising at all. Feels like this isn’t the first time Chennai has got to this point. Years of mismanagement and corruption led to this. When the rain eventually comes and water is aplenty, everyone responsible will conveniently forget this episode and when the drought comes again there will be hand wringing anew.
Chennai isn’t alone. Every city in india is at the same precipice. Chennai is the first to fall.
38
Overpopulation is the actual cause, but no will talk about that. More efficient water reclamation does not solve the larger problem.
43
@K Henderson, Bravo! I couldn't agree with you more. And it's going to take its toll across this entire planet.
14
Just wait until the Russians, Iranians, or Koreans mess with America's power grid and jam up the controls for the New York City water system. Then our traffic lights don't work and bridges can't open or shut.
Thirst? Hunger? Mayhem?
10
Take a good look at the country where your generic drugs are made. Feel reassured?
22
@Jeffrey Waingrow At least in India -- the free and fair press and rule of law + civil rights can shine light on making drugs poorly (if the low water availability in one city matters for that anyways). In China no free press, no civil rights, it's less clear.
7
@Cool Dude free press? Lol
5
@Jeffrey Waingrow, actually you are looking at one city which has dealt with water shortages for decades. It has fought doomsday scenarios through tapping alternate sources, rainwater harvesting and desalination. But hey all these facts gets in the way of one's own agenda. Drug safety has more to do with individual companies and profit motives than where they are based.
India is so large and complex it includes dry deserts, wet tropical rain forests, largest glaciers outside polar regions, arid plateaus, vast flood prone river valleys and high deserts all within a days drive from each other. Chennai's current crisis is a cautionary tale, but not typical of much of India.
9
Where's the report of the obvious? Those in charge for the last twenty years delayed meaningful action to the point of not-a-drop-to-drink. Let's read whom they blame other than themselves. Let's read the entire saga of the bungling, corruption, stupdity, etc. This is a world class governmental disaster.
Five million people elected a parade of public officials who did what few have: let the well run dry. The voters had twenty years to do better, too.
The intellectuals, the dimwits, the business people, the religious, etc. They all cooperated to the exhaustion of the water supply and the attendent colapse of everything associated. This is a gem, and the reporter can only find the person-on-street stories.
There is some fun awaiting reading about all the buck passing, blaming, denying, etc. They should fly in some US military contractors to advise on presenting the bright side of late, over budget, and unkown completion date because of the faults of everyone else.
19
You have hit upon the right point without, I am guessing, knowing much about the politics of Chennai. The political class of Chennai with a dense set of political parties is notorious for corruption and greed. And this being a state with a high degree of political literacy, the public shares in the blame too.
11
The glaciers in the Himalayas are rapidly shrinking. These glaciers are the primary source of major rivers in northern India, including the Indus and the Ganges. When the glaciers are gone, drought in areas surrounding these rivers may no longer be able to sustain large populations. We might see millions of climate refugees, not only from India, but from many areas of the world, travelling to find more water, or less (if they come from flood zones). The mass migration could tax community resources and destabilize governments around the globe. The world to come might be a desperate, scary place.
43
India is destined to be the most populous nation on Earth. The birthplace of multiple faiths India is the most populous Hindu nation and has the 3rd most Muslims of any country.
India is not a party to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and has nuclear weapons. India's national security defense efforts are focused on it's nuclear weapons rogue nation neighbor Pakistan.
India has among the worst air, land and water pollution problems on Earth. Environmental concerns including the consequences of climate change are not important issues. Industrial environmental regulation in India is basically for sale. Remember Bhopal.
34
What can we all do to bring populations and resources back into balance?
We need to do this for each other.
25
@D Jurin Education, population control. The planet is rapidly running out of resources and climate change is exacerbating the crisis. Unfortunately humanity is fighting one another over race, religion, etc. Fundamentalists are dragging us backwards.
21
How about some common sense and birth control, huh?
36
@William B.: said the american whose massive consumption of resources led to climate change in large part. But keep doing the obvious - burn fossil fuels and blame others
22
@William B. Actually, the birth rate in India has dropped dramatically, which correlates with better health outcomes in children and, interestingly, the number of household televisions. When people's basic needs are met, they voluntarily limit the size of their families.
https://www.downtoearth.org.in/news/health/fertility-in-india-is-declining-rapidly-says-national-health-profile-2018-60921
13
Too many people.
And it is our future, in the US, unless we can come to some kind of consensus that more people equals less for everyone.
We are in a new era for mankind: our species will contract in one way or another. We can choose to limit immigration and achieve population contraction or we can continue the way we have been and disease, war, famine and drought will solve our problems for us.
All those nice, hardworking, illegal immigrants we help? When times get tough they will take as much as they can get.
29
You should call this plan “let poor people die.”
27
@willt26 Remember you are an addition to the huge population and burden to the resources no matter what. For change try not to be selfish. Your good life is not without pain to someone else. Open your mindset
Thanks
24
I’m not so sure there’s anything wrong with that.
3
Quite a few people in the comments are blaming Chennai’s dilemma on overpopulation. But the poorest people around the world, those who have the highest fertility rates, use a negligible amount of resources compared to those with means, those at the top.
The rich in India (and around the world) pump water out of the ground at ever faster rates, and pollute the world with more energy consumption and ACs. Meanwhile, the poor are left to fight for the scraps of a dying world.
This problem was created by those who hold the most power, not those who society has long ago abandoned.
109
Every year tens of millions of people enter the middle class around the world. Poor people having children is part of the problem. Every additional human is the problem. It does not matter if their consumption is low. We are past that point. Any additional consumption is the problem.
21
Maybe the existing rich people can reduce their consumption to match that of the poor?
20
Poor water management system, just before few years there was flood in Chennai and entire city was disrupted. Now the water scarcity, its high time for Government to take up water recycling and management projects.
8
Why no mention of how India's farmers have been fighting with Coca Cola (and boycotting "fizzy" drinks) because our beloved "teach the world" Coca Cola has been draining aquifers wherever they can -- including India. When corporations finally realize that it's in their best long-term interest to market products that promote the greater good, perhaps things will change. Coca Cola has yet to admit that they have done anything shady -- and instead try to say that they are replenishing the water supply. Not.
38
@Susan Tarrence People likely drink the same amount of water each day, whether it from a tap fed by an aquifer, or from a bottled product made with water from an aquifer. In short, the amount of drainage is about equally with or without Coke.
7
India is a country being ruined by overpopulation. In 1961 Chennai had 1,7 million inhabitants. Now it has 9,1 million (not five).
http://www.indiaonlinepages.com/population/chennai-current-population.html
46
Sounds like one more potential exodus in the making. Just like the last fish to go in an evaporating pond, just America’s bad luck to be it. How the rest of the other fish must have hated it in the mad crush towards the end.
4
It's inhumane to ask/require people to stop reproducing of their own free will. How do we accommodate this basic human right? Creative answers are necessary.
11
Let's not forget how ineffective birth control can be. Lot of births happen to couples who planned otherwise.
3
H@Mary Really? Birth control pills, IUDs are about 99% effective. But if you’re just praying to God not to get pregnant, nope, not gonna work.
11
@Bill Scurry The creatative answer of course is contraception. Unfortunately, of course also, religious mania prevents it. As long as there's a God to worship—a tin statue, or even a wall will do— they'll be resistance to such prevention.
30
Kamala Harris' mother comes from this area. Every day more and more Indians are moving into the area. They are smart and hard working. Birth control will never happen with the Hindu Moslem conflict. Each side wants to outpopulate the other. Indian and Pakistan are pouring their resources into nuclear bombs and missiles. With global warming in a few decades the temperate zones of the US and Europe will be the only liveable areas on the planet. Instead of ignoring reality let us prepare our societies to welcome and deal with the influx of population.
4
@as, welcome or dread? A large meteor strike would be far more merciful than Mad Max’s thunderdome finale. Just imagine Kamala’s base though.
6
@as And how do you do go about doing that? For starters, how about curbing immigration by addressing the reasons for it. By far, folks prefer to stay in their native country, so let there be a global effor to ensure that life there is good enough for them to do so.
15
@as
India’s overpopulation has nothing to do with Hindu/Muslim conflict but everything to do with lack of education. If you go to India and observe all the middle class educated Indians have either only one or two children. It seems like every time there is an article on India in NYT people have to comment about Hindu/Muslim conflict, whether it’s applicable or not.
6
If this was America there would be NRA gun owners bullying there way to get the water first. i hope the military and police are the only ones to have guns in India.
12
The two problems are not climate change related. Chennai's population has increased dramatically over the past decade with few new water resources, Secondly, only 30 % of Chennai's rainfall happens between December and July. 70 % falls between August and November with 50% of the years rainfall falling in October-November. They just need to build better dams.
8
It would help immensely if ALL of us were more mindful of our (ab)use of water and other resources. Simple things like not over-washing dishes, hands, clothes; turning off the spigot while you scrub the dish/rub your hands together; getting rid of lawns that take inordinate amounts of water whilst adding little in terms of biodiversity, etcetera will go a long way to conserve these precious resource(s) for the current and future generations.
17
Shame we forgot about a city in America without safe water. Flint. Too much work to keep following a very important story?
24
@Kevin agreed. Thank you.
7
Shifting climatic zones and disappearing glaciers which provide water in dry months.
1.5 billion people in 10 countries in Asia are sustained by meltwater from disappearing Himalayan glaciers.
They’ll likely squabble over dwindling supplies and some of those countries are nuclear armed.
Here is James Hansen from a 2012 TED Talk
“An important impact, if global warming continues, will be on the breadbasket of our nation and the world, the Midwest and Great Plains, which are expected to become prone to extreme droughts, worse than the Dust Bowl, within just a few decades, if we let global warming continue. . . causing massive famines and economic decline.”
https://www.ted.com/talks/james_hansen_why_i_must_speak_out_about_climate_change/transcript?language=en
13
A completely man-made crisis. One can only imagine the sewage problems (where there is a sewage system, only for a small percentage of Indians). India is an utter nightmare for a billion poor. This is the "gift" of capitalism's glorious Free Market. The government spends on aircraft carriers, nuclear weapons, and rockets, while the people choke and die from the worst air and water pollution in the world. Industrial waste is the least regulated in the world. Pharmaceutical companies dump effluents untreated into drinking water. The wealthy have water tanks and air filters. The rich throw out food in ostentatious displays and make low castes roll around in it to be able to eat leftovers at temple (Made Sana). Prior to the arrival of the British, India, China and the Middle East had massive hydraulic projects including huge systems of cisterns for dry spells. The British and other colonial invaders sabotaged or neglected these systems to deepen colonial exploitation and profits. Droughts are good for increasing debts. Post independence leaders followed suit. There are no engineering mysteries about what needs to be done. Time to revolt.
15
Please go right ahead and leave San Francisco, CA in the United States of America so that you can lead your revolt in India.
9
No thank you. I have confidence that the poor of India will lead their their own revolt. Besides we need a revolt in the United States even more badly, given the rich here are the greatest source of war and human misery.
14
Instituting a zero child per family policy for the next 120 years would help to solve the problem in India. Seriously, until India doesn’t reduce its population drastically, nothing will improve.
32
So you propose Genocide as your final solution? The myth of "overpopulation" is utter reactionary hogwash from every standpoint, and racist. It was invented to blame the poor for their misery and deflect blame from the rich. FYI, the per capita consumption of resources by India AND China, combined, is less than that of the US. Only 5 percent of the world population, Americans alone consume well over 25 percent of the world's resources, and generate over 30 percent of pollution. If one was to follow your facile argument it would be most efficient to ban further births in your family and friends, and nation. Additionally population growth has already begun plateauing, and more of the world is headed toward negative growth in the coming decades. No the problem is not too many people but improper use of resources under a 'free market' that will only act for profits, not human need.
21
@PaulN: India suffers from colonial rule and plundering more than anything. They are a far older country and civilization than the US which along with other western countries has driven climate change. Maybe US should have zero child policy (which will eliminate wise-cracks including you) which will definitely not just save Chennai but a lot more.
6
Why did you have to go to Chennai to report on this? Flint is much closer.
16
@Practicalities Flint has been fixed.
4
No mention of the fundamental cause of Chennai’s water problems: overpopulation.
One million residents at Independence. Over six million today—and growing rapidly.
BTW this is also the country that stands to gain the most from the immigration bill just passed by the US House of Reps, increasing H2 visas. It’s a reward for demographic irresponsibility, paid for by American workers in lower pay and lost opportunities.
25
@Phil Cafaro, I guess it is a Pavlovian reflex in some commenters when they see a story about India. Cyclone/natural disaster: loop in H-1b visa, earthquake:H-1b, terrorist attack: H-1b visa. India is a nation of a billion plus people which existed prior to H-1bs and will continue to exist in the future regardless of a visa category.
India's well being and challenges will have an impact on the rest of the world including here in America. We can barely handle fallout from small nations being destabilized and we will do well to remember a nation of this size and complexity will influence what kind of a world we live in. We have to be grateful that for all its challenges, it is a stable nation making strides as the alternative means consequences for the rest of the world.
4
The article mentions two factors that are most responsible for water shortages and virtually all other problems on the planet, but without specifically citing them as the main problems.
The first is “rapid growth” or, more simply, overpopulation which has been destroying the planet for years. As I have said more than once in these comments, no matter what your cause, it is a lost cause without population control.
The second issue is related, of course. It is overuse. Overuse of everything, but in this instance, of water. The fact is that human beings don’t need to shower every day. A shower was not part of the daily ritual until quite recently and of course it is not a basic requirement in many societies still.
But I am not talking about just third world or less developed societies. In our allegedly evolved society, people bathe and wash their clothing far too much. We should get used to the normal smells of bodies instead of the perfume of soaps, shampoos and laundry detergents.
26
@Margaret Jay
Domestic use of water is a vanishingly small percentage of total human use of water. Every single person in Chennai forsaking a shower would leave enough extra water for a few acres of almonds or a hundred head of cattle.
Recommendations like these remind of the neoliberals in America who push for electric cars to reduce emissions - cars which are brought over on container ships which each emit more than an entire city's worth of cars in one trip across the Pacific.
7
One of the problems is "development" and "GDP". GDP should include a measure of resources used to produce that "growth" as well as a measure of debt used.
Debt allows people to borrow and consume (resulting in dwindling resources) what they otherwise can't afford.
4
What does this have to do with the water crisis?
1
@P-top Connect the dots. Aggressive development and consumption is the cause of dwindling natural resources. The article already identified how lakes were filled to develop homes.
4
Across the Bay of Bengal from Chennai at a similar latitude is Phuket in Thailand. It is monsoon time here, but there hasn't been a drop of rain in the south of the island for a month. Day after day of sunny blue skies (today yet again) - good for a tan if you're a visiting tourist. Last year the monsoon was intermittent at best. The water supply infrastructure - reservoirs, etc. is very poorly developed. A very large percentage of the population relies solely on hand dug wells and artesian bores. Many are dependent on water tankers bringing supplies from further afield. Development continues apace (rapidly) - the water table dropping accordingly. I've lived here for many years (first visiting in 1975 when there was next to no tourism, just rubber plantations and tin mining - both on and offshore). No one, many believe, can predict the future with any certainty. But don't be surprised when you start reading stories about the terrible drought conditions in this 'lush' part of the world and all that implies. Scary.
40
The higher the humidity, the lower the evaporation rate. Your statement about hot humid summers alludes to the opposite.
Please write in a clear and scientifically consistent manner.
8
@JDM, read the paragraph carefully - the writer does not equate high humidity (she only states that it's a humid climate) with higher evaporation; she equated higher temperatures with higher evaporation. And that correlation is a f-a-c-t.
9
I was surprised at how many comments I had to read before I got to one that mentioned the primary problem: overpopulation.
55
@Big Cow
How do you propose to reduce the population sufficiently in the little time we have left?
2
It’s also unrestrained urbanization. Not much is planned and our cities are overcrowded since there is lack opportunity in rural areas.
10
@Big Cow
No one doubts that excessive population inordinately strains resources. It is easy to blame over-population but that is not the cause of the crisis detailed in this article.
The problem is endemic corruption to the extent that it sucks most of the money allotted to development.
And this is in one of the supposedly better governed states in the country.
Unfortunately even today too little is being done to find long term remedies for serious problems and soon the consequences will be harsher as a result.
2
Not a word in this article about the fact that there are 5 times as many people in Chennai in 2019 as there were in 1950. 5 times as many people don't need 5 times as much water ?
69
fantastic!
same day, same front page as “ other” headline of water rights being bought up and held as private holdings for future profit!
we are in for a sad future ( unless you are cheney, et al with the 4,000 private acres in wyoming! water, land, clean air!! all his)
12
@Pamela Unfortunately this is an extension of what we do with land and other forms of wealth.
3
The reality is that the earth will do just fine without us in the future, as it did before we got here. We are like the locusts in the fields, eat everything and disappear.
What will be left are sharks and cockroaches.
43
@jim Probably not sharks. We're wiping them out, too.
6
@jim What will be left are cockroaches and Keith Richards. That's an old joke, but perhaps some readers haven't heard it before.
16
India needs to create a 1 child policy.
To many.
38
Chuck, tell that to the men who believe sex is their right and the woman gets pregnant, they beat her. I’m in total agreement with your post, I wish there could be a kinder solution, like Depoprovera for all females of reproductive age. Unfortunately that’s not gonna happen. What will begin to happen are deaths on larger scales due to weather, disease, and wars. That will thin out populations.
10
Measured by per capita consumption of resources India and China combined consume far less than the United States with a population less than 5 percent of the world. If you think population is the problem perhaps you'd like to start with your family and friends and their disproportionate consumption. "Overpopulation" is pure myth, created to foist blame onto the victims. Moreover population growth is plateauing in the entire world (with the exception of India) The British raped India and its subsequent capitalist rulers have continued. The problem is a social-economic system that subordinates everything to capital and profit, not babies.
13
@AR,
Every person in China and India would consume as much as an American if they could. And the numbers there are out of control.
Yes- I must cut my consumption. But, frankly, what is the point? Millions of people in China and India, each year, are entering the middle class. I could consume NOTHING and it would make NO DIFFERENCE. What I didn't consume would be consumed by someone else.
Population growth is not plateauing. What utter nonsense. In 31 years there will be another 4 billion people on the planet.
You are the problem because you are railing against events from 50 years ago (or more) that have nothing to do with our problem now: too many people.
Not by millions- by billions. A billion people could all live like kings. 11 billion people will all live terrible lives.
24
India continues to rank among the most corrupt countries for many years now. Modi or no Modi, nationalism or communism, nothing have managed to make a dent into the civic life due to the highly corrupt bureaucracy, corrupt politicians & super corrupt industrialist. Chennai is the home of Murugappa-Group, the family held business family, and Chennai is also the Indian Headquarters of Cognizant. In spite of these, public antipathy to general civic sense is mundane and sickening.
The corrupt politicians control the private-tanker business, which makes a killing in this mis-management and corruption. I suggest to read a book "Everyone loves a Good Drought" by P.Sainath https://www.amazon.com/Everybody-Loves-Good-Drought-Districts/dp/0140259848
Very soon the Murugappas and other Tamil and other South-India and North Indian Oligarhs would have nothing to loot. They would have bought their million dollar homes a properties in the West. The poor, starving, thirsty Tamil_Indians would be left to suffer and die and maybe take a Boat through the Indian Ocean to an abortive attempt to get into USA or Europe.
What a sorry state! Indians robbing, looting, killing fellow-Indians. Eternal story of human civilization!
59
@Neel - Broadly generalizing about a place as large as India is ridiculous bigotry.
4
@Neel well said!!! When I read the article the first thing i thought was surely the rich aren’t going to wake up and run for the water tanker?
It’s no different in my home state of goa where’s escalating land prices ( mostly from black money from Delhi) has created some of the world’s most corrupt politicians so the only recourse for the poor and not so educated is to avail of Portuguese citizenship.
8
@Neel
I had a young, female co-worker from India who told me that corruption is rife there.
And here's the kicker: She talked about it in a totally matter-of-fact way like she thought corruption was a totally acceptable part of everyday life.
I recall her telling me about her boyfriend bribing a police officer to get out of a ticket. She made an excuse for it by saying to me, "The police officer has a family to feed too."
I was gobsmacked.
20
This is the shape of things to come. Pretty soon, Delhi, with its fast-depleting ground water supply, will be facing the same situation.
Global warming and climate change are going to hit home within the next couple of decades, when people living in countries with depleted natural resources, particularly in Africa and Asia, start moving (legally and illegally) to countries with "greener pastures", such as the US.
The two elephants in the room: (1) world population growth. The growth rates may have edged down, but the total number of people added every year (approximately 80 million) to our already over-crowded planet remains the same. (2) Over consumption. Instead of being a consumer society, if we were living the lifestyles of our great grand parents, climate change would not have been such a major issue. Sadly, reducing consumption and birth control are two taboo topics which neither politicians nor the media would like to seriously discuss.
137
Living in the American Southwest, I want to be prepared for what Climate Change is throwing at us so I've been studying up about water. I highly recommend the book Rainwater Harvesting for Drylands and Beyond by Brad Lancaster of Tucson, Arizona. Lancaster also has a website.
I direct the greywater from my laundry into my backyard. I don't take a shower every day. Water from cooking pasta or steaming veggies goes in my compost pile. I direct the rain spigots to my apple trees. I use a composting toilet. I use mulch extensively so when we have the intense rains that are becoming increasingly common, the water sinks in the land instead of shedding off it.
I also shade my house with trees and outside shades and use ceiling fans and open the windows at night so I don't need to use the air conditioning. I'm lucky because where I am it at least cools down a bit at night. I pity those where the nights are still warm.
We're in a new era with this climate crisis. We better all read up and prepare, in my humble opinion.
183
@Jude - Agree and I'm a Lancaster fan, too. But you have to have rainfall in order to generate graywater. And the article points out that Chennai is urbanizing, depleting catchment/natural storage. Tucson has a good "bi-modal" rainfall distribution and is, thankfully, surrounded my national forest and sky island ranges. Well-written submission. Thank you. I believe Tucson also has a mandatory 50% onsite catchment ordinance for commercial properties. The fact that at least two Arizonans are reading (and commenting on) this article is testimony to a well-placed story.
16
@Jude It doesn't end there...there is artificial turf, plants and trees that use less water (indigenous), Filters for spigots and toilets designed to reduce water consumption...Air Conditioning Condensation lines to direct the water to plants instead of the ground. Even rain gutters to be directed to 50 gallon drums for storage and future watering needs. The list goes ON and ON and ON....time to prepare and save and enjoy.
5
No water ,little food ,no sanitation facilities what so ever. the major continents are now beginning to reproduce into the many billions without any resources what so ever.Asia, India Africa ,this is the crisis of humanity far before climate change.
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We North Americans have per capita carbon emissions which are among the highest in the world. Time to change.
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@gkm change is happening. Unfortunately, the rest of the world discovered how to weaponize debt and overconsume. Following the "leader".
4
@gkm,
And we need to stop immigration into our countries. More people in developed countries means more emissions.
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There are contributing factors, but the main problem is out of control population growth. The planet is very past its maximum carrying capacity and most people are too stupid to realize this and lower the birth rate.
The developing countries are making progress in this, but China, India, etc. have population growth like there is no tomorrow to worry about. Well, tomorrow is arriving and it looks miserable, doesn't it.
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@kat I hear your concern but there is nothing but grief among farmers who have too much produce. The wealthy West can buy it’s way out of troubles but the situation for the poor is on display here.
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@kat. "China, India, etc have population growth like there is no tomorrow". That's not quite right (just being polite ... should be calling it "rubbish").
Here are UN estimates of population growth (2015-2020)
- India: 1.10 %
- World: 1.09 %
- USA: 0.71%
- China: 0.39%
Source: There are multiple ... here's one: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_population_growth_rate
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@RudyF
Well, Rudy, before we go calling "rubbish" let's bear in mind that percentage alone is a meaningless statistic. Percentage of what, exactly?
In the case of India or China, "what" is "huge", and one percent of "huge" is pretty big.
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And what about FLINT???? It "has" water, but no one can drink it....
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It's not that there is too little water; it's that there are too many humans.
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Is is statement correct the timing of the monsoon, "The city gets most of its water each year from the short, heavy monsoon that begins in October and a few pre-monsoon showers."
This is what most our Southwest will have to deal with soon. Welcome to the future.
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The Southwest will just seize water from the Missouri River and the Mississippi River. They will pump it west and call it flood control. Of course the Federal government will pay for everything.
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@HistoryRhymes
Ohhh, I’ll move back to Jersey then and drink from the old Raritan!
2
Sound familiar, California? Draining ground water, together with too many residents. Not a good combination.
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I agree California has water issues, but the truth is that agriculture uses the majority of water in the state.
Minor increases in water efficiency on farms and careful selection of crops (such as reduction of fruit and nut orchards and vineyards that require year-round and steady irrigation) would greatly improve the water situation of California.
More attention to what farmers deride as environmental water (water for environmental benefit, such as for salmon and threatened wetland habitats) would improve the outlook for the current greedy groundwater overdraft that is happening in the Central Valley.
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@Jenny Lee
My in-laws life in southern Arizona, and there are many groves of irrigated pecan trees in the desert there. It is crazy, when pecan trees grow in the south and southeast with no irrigation. Why is this allowed?
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I only wish the world's governments were giving serious thought to what was going to happen to these people, and the millions more in similar circumstances, ten or twenty or fifty years from now, when the world is hotter and the weather more destructive and areas like southern India even drier. I feel like we're all watching the worst train wreck in human history in slow motion - all of us strangely paralyzed, thinking it might not actually happen, simply because the media can only report the smash-up happening a foot at a time.
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@Eric,
The situation is dire. It is too late for the US to protect anyone but our own people. It is probably too late for that too.
What we need to do, now, is call a complete halt to immigration. Places like India have to solve their own problems. What we cannot do is shift millions of people from their over-populated, and destroyed, nations into the few remaining areas that might make it.
The last one hundred years has seen massive population growth. No one in the US made anyone in Asia or Africa have babies.
10
When will India learn. Modi is promising electricity to everyone in India. All powered by the dirtiest of Coal Fired Power Stations with the cheapest coal shipped from Australia and elsewhere. 15,000 dirty diesel spewing tankers a day trying to bandaid the problem in just one city. Hundreds of thousands of plastic pots destined to eventually end up in rivers and then oceans. India needs to get religion on Climate Change and pollution and population control instead of touting nuclear and space prowess. I know this sounds hypocritical from someone living in a country that left the Paris Climate Agreement and has a moron (Tillerson's term not mine) but I recognize the Climate Emergency and will be voting in 2020 to change the mistakes the current administration is making. America needs to change desperately. The whole world does. India, the problem is only going to get much worse. Time to re-think your entire energy and population strategy.
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@MartinC,
Who are you going to vote for?
Honestly- the Democratic plan of taking every person on the planet with the courage to sneak in and break our laws is going to exacerbate climate change to no end.
8
@willt26
Honestly?
Please name one Democrat who has ever said such a thing. Just one...
You people are crazy.
13
“India needs to get religion on Climate Change....”
There you go—that’s the mantra we’re being fed every single day around the globe!
I bet the NYT even has a quota on how often the words of this religion “CC” have to be mentioned on a daily basis throughout their enlightening pages.
Of course you mentioned the next step, so you get a star! Climate Change, Pollution and Habitat Destruction. All noble endeavors in one way or another!
The thing that bothered me, short term, about this article was the inefficient containers the people were using to transport the precious water they so desperately need! One liter of water weighs one kilogram, so we can imagine how heavy a container can get.
Germans carry the blame for much of the suffering which happened during WW2 but one of the good things they invented is known as the Jerry Can. Look it up, because Indian society is broken if the people resort to the containers they’re using.
1
Global warming from burning fossil fuels puts more water vapor in the atmosphere. Changing weather patterns from the same warming means that places that once had an ample water supply will be dry. Where this is predicted--Rossby waves and Hadley cells--major efforts should be made to provide adequate water supplies. It is an external cost of burning fossil fuels, and fossil fuel companies should foot the bill.
Part of this, pumping aquifers dry, is due to excessive human encroachment from population growth. This, too, should be managed by the way water is divided up for agriculture and human use. Old water right laws should be updated, and city water departments should plan ahead. At the local level, other development projects should be set aside until reliable water distribution is solved.
The silver lining is that in developed societies with good access to birth control, there is close to zero population growth. There should be incentives to transfer this to the developing world, but not coercion. Areas dependent on aquifers that are drying up should price their water to reflect this, which will probably discourage future growth.
The main problem is that nothing realistically is being done to curb fossil fuel emissions, preserve rain forests and at the same time add new growth overall, and protect biodiversity especially in the oceans. There are working models for all of this that are successful, and just need to be adopted worldwide. Plus, add a carbon tax.
33
These problems cannot be resolved by hyping nationalism or sectarianism and require the embrace of and use of actual science: is India's current government up to the task?
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@Ben Lieberman Absolutely not. Modi is religious Hindu nationalist fanning the flames of intolerance and hatred. Totally corrupt. Worthless. India has excellent scientists and knowledgable people who could be working on these problems but like the U.S. & our corrupt government is ignoring them.
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This is just the premiere; it’ll open widely, on a record number of screens, soon enough.
130
Most of the water problems in Indian metro areas is due to corruption and lack of building code enforcement which leads to unauthorized construction of new houses and apartments leading to stress on water supply and resources. Corruption and mismanagement leads to land encroachment of water shed areas leading to less rain water supply to the reservoirs and increased water pollution. The group that suffers the most is usually poor and lower middle class citizens who can’t afford to pay private businesses that deliver water or don’t have the clout of real estate developers to secure water supply. Inconsistent monsoon rains and overpopulation are major contributors as well.
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Yes Matt. You’re absolutely correct. Apart from global warming and climate change, the main reason for recurring drought in Chennai is the conversion of water shed areas like lakes and streams into apartment complexes and housing colonies. The best example is the Madipakkam area which boasted a big lake a few decades ago now has become the most populous part of Chennai. Indiscriminate land grab by greedy builders and avaricious politicians have led to the current crisis. Like vultures which pry on dead the same group is exploiting the crisis by selling water by tankers.
Strict enforcement of building code combined with mandatory rain harvesting and desilting the old lakes and tanks can change the current situation. With empathy and concern for future generations in short supply, I am not optimistic😭
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@Saloudeen It's too late.
4