Parched villages: Water scarcity in times of COVID-19

Photo taken close to Jamawada village, Bastar - Chhattisgarh

Water scarcity in India has been a long-standing problem. Last year, India was faced with one of the worst droughts with hand pumps and wells that had run dry in the 45 degree celsius heatwave. The acute water shortage had left crops withered and livestock starving with very little water to drink in villages like Hatkarwadi, 20 miles from Beed in Maharashtra.

This year the rural hinterlands of our country have a dual problem to face; water scarcity and COVID-19. 

While the country has been in a state of lockdown since the 24th March 2020, villagers have been hit with issues like unemployment, lack of payment, unseasonal rainfall, crop failure, inefficient market linkage, hunger and starvation. Water scarcity will be an icing on the cake.

Many districts within India have one tap for four to five households. Villagers have to face a disconcerting choice: they can wash their hands or keep social distance, but it's hard to practice both methods to ward off the disease. 

India's water ministry urged state governments to spread a message to all of India: Washing hands with soap and water for 20 seconds throughout the day is critical. But in India and other developing countries, the message ignores an important question: What if you don't have enough clean water? What if you don't have water at all after a certain point?

If we are expected to wash our hands after touching a surface outside the home, after coughing, sneezing and blowing the nose, using the toilet, managing garbage etc - it easily amounts to at least 10 times a day. For India, that's a lot of hand washing. A NITI Aayog report found that 82% of rural households (146 million homes) do not have piped running water.

This year, even before summer, roughly 35% of India is facing drought and drought-like conditions. The affected parts of our rural hinterlands need to depend on water tankers by the government. The sad bit is that government trucks don't show up in a lot of these villages. The idea of washing hands multiple times in a day may sound absolutely absurd to the people.

To expect that people in this poverty-stricken, water-deficient country will prioritise washing hands over using it for agricultural purposes is nothing short of a cruel joke.