On the water front
Water, water all around but not a drop to drink. When it rains, it’s wet. It’s raining, it’s pouring, the old man is snoring, dreaming about the forthcoming water wars. We’ve heard the slogans and puns and the sayings before, but this is the first time we’ve come across the Inter Press Service’s chapbook of articles, Stories from the Asia Water Wire, subtitled “What Water Means to the World’s Most Populous Continent” (IPS Asia-Pacific 2007). IPS collects articles from around the continent written by local journalists, dealing with the various aspects of sustainable water management and how it affects the lives of millions: from irrigation to waste management, river dredging to saving a drying sea, the reportage touches on the conservation and preservation of a commodity mostly take for granted.
In Tokyo, the culture of dam building is fast becoming porous as both the population and politicians turn a new green leaf. In Peshawar, Pakistan, emotions run high over the construction of a dam that would generate electricity but also threatens to submerge acres of fertile land. In Yarzull, India, the newly built dam generates power but in the process displaces hundreds of families.
In Singapore, city-state with no natural resources, there’s a mascot of water consciousness called Water Wally. In Kathmandu, a water filter helps provide water to flush the toilets of a school in the Nepali capital. In Khokana, Nepal, the introduction of sanitary toilets in a quaint rustic village becomes something of a cultural revolution. In Madhya Pradesh, India, a toilet in one’s home helps spare one the trek through the outback just to answer the call of nature. In Dhaka, the depletion of groundwater has made taking daily baths a luxury, especially in the summer. In Lahore, Pakistan, residents of a railway colony notice something oily coming out of their taps. In Islamabad, a radio show brings water and gender into public debate after a woman suffers a miscarriage while fetching water for her husband.
In Peshawar, a farmer laments the loss of his crops after the Kabul river floods in 2005. In Lahore, government and private donors step in to help farmers reinforce their irrigation canals in time of drought. In Gairetganj, India, modest grants give families leeway to grow their own crops after collecting cow dung for a living. In Flores, Indonesia, severe lack of water has prevented farmers from planting rice, foreshadowing a shortage of the food staple. In Marikina City, the janitor fish wreaks havoc on the city’s river, but its curse may turn into a blessing with the fish a possible source of bio-fuel. In Chhong Kneas, Cambodia, a fishing village in the Tonle Sap River copes with the changing times.
In Harbin, China, alarm is sounded on the Songhua River when tons of toxic chemicals are spilled into the waterway that stretches into Russia. In Bangkok, part of the aftermath of the Boxing Day tsunami was the destruction of water pipes, making the spread of water-borne diseases a very real threat. In Kashmir, the Himalayan quake brings residents of a mountain village back to the middle ages, sanitation-wise, forcing them to build latrines with the help of Unicef. In Kampong Ayer, Brunei, life in a village on stilts above the river may take getting used to, but it is the only existence imaginable for oldtimers who fight to maintain the river’s cleanliness. In Tokyo, a tuna shortage looms due to over-fishing and the advent of trawlers. In Korla, China, a city wards off the desert by importing water conservation technology from Israel. In Tashkent, the Aral Sea is reportedly fast disappearing so that soon we may see it only in pictures or remember it through the verse of Uzbek poet Raim Farhadi. In Bangalore, India, the robust IT industry may be dragged down by lack of potable water. In Basila, Bangladesh, tanneries may have brought in dollars but they also polluted the Buriganga River, depriving Hindu fishermen of their livelihood.
Meanwhile, Bangladeshis wait for the monsoon season to rejuvenate the river Dharla so that residents on its banks can live normal lives again. In the Dang district in western Nepal two brothers team up with a visiting primatologist to fight the scourge of poison fishing. In Uzbekistan, environmentalists say recycling water from the Chirchik River for drinking and irrigating vegetable plots is a high-risk activity because the river carries toxic pollutants.
In Central Asia, Kyrgyzstan officials are thinking of using water as a bargaining chip in trade with neighboring Uzbekistan, which supplies most of the former’s natural gas. Both countries also try to manage the mad river Tentek-say, which runs through their boundaries.
Lahore reports that the Hudiara drain, tributary of the Ravi River, may have outlived its usefulness and the chemical waste it carries poses danger to both Indian and Pakistani residents living alongside it. In Muzaffargarh, Pakistan, rehabilitation of the Taunsa Barrage has displaced thousands who cry for compensation.
Those are the stories in Asia Water Wire edited by Johanna Son of Inter Press Service, who was formerly of the Manila Chronicle during the Chino Roces days. The compilation comes with compelling photography and layout. A timely publication it is, as we live in the midst of climate change, global warming, catastrophes both real and psychic, so that such a read may help us better cope with assorted water problems and offer ways to address them, as well as serve fair warning to those foolish enough to trifle with the forces of nature.
