Low Watermark

The Pioneer,
New Delhi, 10th June, 2005.

The people of Perumatty Panchayat, Kerala, have set an example for the rest of the country by taking a soft drink manufacturing MNC to court for its wanton extraction of ground water to produce its bottled beverages. As a result of the litigation- filed by the villagers in the grip of consecutive droughts- the Hindustan Coca Cola Company was forced to suspend production for one year. The bare facts of the case are Coke draws 460, 000 litres of the areas ground water every year to produce, roughly, 115,000 litres of its soft drinks. In other words, preparing one litre of cock consumes nearly four litre of water. It is hardly surprising that the outraged villagers decided to haul the cola company over the coals. However, while the single judge bench of the Kerla High Court decided in favour of the people of Perumatty, the cola giant appealed to its division bench which, in its wisdom has provided it with reprieve. Cock is back in production. The legal battle, which is bound to have far reaching implications, has just been joined with the water scarce villager going in appeal to the Supreme Court. The contention of the people of Perumatty merits the concentrated attention of all. The Central and State Governments, innumerable NGOs across the country engaged in water harvesting programmes, as well as the cola companies and other industrial units either consuming or polluting ground water.

Indeed, the litigation raises crucial issues of water and ecological security, which we can ignore only at our collective peril. The Governing authorities at various levels ought to immediately address the issues raised by the Kerala High Court initial Verdict. One, that ground water belongs to the public, and the state and its instrumentalities should function as trustees of this wealth and two, it is the states responsibility to protect ground water from excessive exploitation. As for NGOs engaged in water conservation, these must coordinate their activities not just with the district authorities but also local industries that use or consume ground water. Finally, such units- consumers of natural resources- must ensures the maximum possible replenishment of the water they draw, in as many diverse ways as possible.

Water is the most precious of all natural- and national resources for the simple reason that it nourishes life. Tragically, its conservation has not figured as high on the Central and State Governments agenda as it should. It is in absence of a cohesive national plan to save the resource that most reservoirs in the country are shrinking and the water table further underground. With rainfall getting more scarce and erratic- parts of central, western and southern India has been suffering droughts for the last several years- water has already become a seriously endangered commodity. If ways are not evolved to sustain and preserve this depleting resource, dark days would seem to lie ahead. One of the difficulties in the way of conservation- whether it is of water or forests- is that states do not have their own environment policies. A national policy alone is unable to achieve its objectives. States should thus be encouraged to formulate their own environment policy, which, once it is approved by their respective assemblies, will help in increasing people’s involvement in water and environmental conservation.

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