Heat, water shortage add to Covid-19 woes

‘How can I give my kids water to wash their hands when we don’t have water to drink’

Bollywood stars and political leaders have urged Indians to wash their hands to protect against coronavirus but that’s a pipe dream for slum-dwellers like Bala Devi, now sweltering through a summer heatwave.

The 44-year-old widow and her family of eight are among tens of millions of people facing months of torrid weather while stuck at home, in lockdown, without regular access to clean water to keep cool and wash.

“It is so hot the children keep asking for water to drink. How can I give them water for washing their hands when we don’t have even enough water to drink?” Devi said at her cramped home in New Delhi.

“Every drop of water is a luxury for us. We can’t afford to spend it on bathing,” she said.

Outside it is around 45 degrees Celsius but her one-bedroom tenement house has just an improvised ceiling fan to keep its occupants cool.

There is a piped water connection but the supply is extremely erratic. Her family uses a common public toilet and their “bathroom” is a bucket behind a curtain.

Currently roughly a third of the country’s 1.3 billion people cut back on washing and bathing during summer as taps run dry. Last year Chennai ran out of water entirely.

More misery

India’s coronavirus lockdown is slowly being eased but the restrictions have compounded the miseries of the current heatwave.

Heatwaves are increasing in frequency, and this week the mercury hit 50 Celsius in western Rajasthan state.

In Delhi, a sprawling city teeming with 20 million people, demand for water outstrips supply by an estimated 200 million gallons per day.