Low access to potable water, dwindling levels of groundwater, insignificant harvesting of rainwater, paltry recycling of sewage water– not to mention the poor quality of treated water, India’s populace tethers on a fragile future. Why have we made so little headway in managing water—is it a lack of a holistic policy, or an outcome of the vote bank politics? Beguiled by shiny taps that ran clean water at homes, we turned our backs on rivers and lakes. Empowering development it was called – women no longer needed to run miles each day, at least in select locations. But, dying sighs of the once ubiquitous water bodies presented a unique opportunity for revival. Funds found their way into ditches and dry ponds, as the now indifferent community stared uncaring. Expensive newfangled technologies that promised sparkling elixir from waste water were installed – as were rainwater harvesting technologies that had groundwater-norm-violating industry personnel jostling for space with a ‘so-and-so’  who was graciously inaugurating a tiny unit. A policy of too little and far between, with a whole lot of confusion thrown in about ownership, pricing, inter-departmental mandates, water lobbies, not to mention the hugely contentious issue related to curbing of unsuitable water intensive crops, is perhaps what the State considers enshrining. 

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