On water

I have seen first hand the booming market of underground water pumps in Indian cities. Every apartment complex built has its own "bore well" as the underwater pumps are called; indeed in most places they are not used as drinking water even by the locals.

Regulation wouldn't help, since the lack of enforcement would just cultivate a black market.

Education won't do much either: this article points to small successful experiments in villages where crop choices are based on ground-water levels, and food grown is used for local consumption instead of being sold; thats a good direction for villages if there is wider adoption of the model. It would also be a boost for sustained farming which is definitely much needed in India. In cities though, it isn't like people don't know about the state of ground-water levels; they just don't care as much. Water supply infrastructure by local governments being as lamentable as it is, city dwellers have few other choices.

The model that might just work is water recycling and rain-water harvesting. There is really so much "real estate" in urban india where rain water could be collected; if every apartment block had a collection mechanism on its roof top in addition to the omnipresent "over-head water tank", that could create a dent. Water wastage is less of a problem than it is in cities in the developed world.

But these are small solutions for a large problem. We have alternative energy projects now; water unfortunately has no alternative!

in reference to: A special report on water: Making farmers matter | The Economist (view on Google Sidewiki)