Are we waiting for the well to run dry?
Embraced by the snowy arms of the Himalayas, Shimla sits at an average altitude of 2,200 meters. Developed by the British colonial rulers as the summer capital of India in the 19th century, Shimla boasts a UNESCO World Heritage Site — as part of the Mountain Himalayan Railways of India — and beautiful colonial architecture.
And for generations it has served as a hill station retreat for tens of thousands of Indian and foreign tourists every year, who are drawn to its subtropical highland climate and the snow-capped peaks surrounding it. In other words, tourism is the lifeblood of the city’s economy.
But now Shimla’s residents are begging tourists (through social media platforms) to stay away, and that too at the beginning of the peak tourist season. Why? Because of an acute water shortage.
Shimla is the capital of the India’s northern province of Himachal Pradesh, and claims to be the “Queen of the Hills” of India, although there are other claimants such as Darjeeling (famous for its tea) in West Bengal and Ooty in Tamil Nadu. But Shimla’s almost 200,000 residents have been forced to stand with plastic buckets in long water lines on Mall Road — famous for its shops and restaurants which are normally crowded with visitors at this time of the year.
Worse, scientists at the Center for Science and Environment in New Delhi say that after South Africa’s Cape Town, which faces a possible “Day Zero” for the end of its tap water supply next year, India’s tech hub of Bangalore in the southern province of Karnataka could be among the next big cities most at risk, because the filling up of its lakes and other development activities have drastically decreased the sources of water.
This is a warning for India. If the government doesn’t take immediate corrective measures, Shimla-like crises could be seen across India.
But this is a lesson for other countries, too, China in particular. According to a 2014 report, more than 59 percent of China’s groundwater sites were poor or extremely poor. An earlier Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development said because of overexploitation of groundwater more than 60,000 square kilometers of ground surface have sunk, threatening more than 50 cities with land subsidence.
In fact, the decision to relocate Beijing’s noncapital functions to Xiongan New Area in Hebei province, which is home to Baiyangdian Lake, the largest freshwater body in North China, has a lot to do with the water shortage Beijing faces.
China has about 20 percent of the world’s population but less than 6 percent of its groundwater. The overstressed aquifer in North China serves 11 percent of the country’s population, 13 percent of its agricultural needs and 70 percent of its coal production.
Which means, if business as usual continues unabated, North China, which includes Beijing, could face an unimaginable water crisis in the near future.
Indeed, the government has taken some remedial measures, but more are needed to ensure water security.