Lack of access to clean drinking water is a serious issue in India today. To raise awareness around importance of water and the impact of water crisis on communities across India, Sharda University has launched ‘#WaterForLife’ Campaign. As a part of the campaign, Philem Rohan Singh a PG Student from Sharda University will cycle more than 5,500 Kms stating from Kashmir and ending at Kanyakumari. The campaign was flagged off on 14th June from Srinagar and crosses Delhi as the 5th stop on its route. The entire trip touching remote locations in Kashmir, Punjab, Haryana, Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Gujrat, Maharashtra, Goa, Karnataka, Bangalore and Kerala and the findings of the project will be made into a documentary which will be India’s first Video based research report on Water related issues, findings and solutions to be shared with the Government of India.
Philem Rohan has reached New Delhi and interacted with local people of Dashratpuri village, Okhla and parts of East Delhi and examined the water related problems they encounter for survival. They have travelled across Srinagar, Drass, Kargil, Leh, Manali, Chandigarh and Kurukshetra till now.
The focus of the campaign is to identify the issues leading to scarcity of clean and safe drinking water and other water related issues affecting livestock, farming, businesses, livelihood and depleting groundwater level among others. Talking about his journey so far Rohan Singh, Student, said, “So far, I have interacted with the local people from different states and inquired about the water crisis they face daily. I found out that while some have scarcity for drinking water others need to travel for long distances to get drinkable water. India is facing one of its major and most serious water crisis ever and ‘#WaterForLife’ Campaign aims to raise awareness on water related problems. Delhi is also facing alarming cases of disappearing groundwater and is likely to run out of groundwater by 2020. In order to replenish the groundwater, rainwater harvesting is compulsory, and consumers also have to do more to check their water-usage practices”.
Rohan will be cycling through 12 states including Kashmir, Punjab, Haryana, Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Gujrat, Maharashtra, Goa, Karnataka, Bangalore and Kerala. The journey will touch remote areas with more affected locations like Ponda, Bicholim, Sanguem, Canaco, Bhatsa, Tulsi, Vihar, Middle Vaitarna, Modak Sagar, Tansa, Upper Vaitarna etc.
Like every summer, this time too Delhi faces severe water shortage, as 60% of the water supplied by Delhi Jal Board comes from the Yamuna, around 34% from Ganga, and the rest is from groundwater. The one method of restoring groundwater level, Rainwater Harvesting (RWH) was made compulsory 19 years ago, in 2001, but has little presence in Delhi with no solid data about effective implementation which has resulted in such rapid depletion of groundwater in the capital.
