It is well-settled, since the MC Mehta case, that people have a fundamental right to clean water under Article 21 and governments have a duty to provide this finite resource. The Bombay High Court, in the context of a landmark case relating to the health of tribals in Melghat, reiterated this and pulled up governments for failing to supply water to all citizens even 75 years after Independence. A Division Bench of Justices Ajay Gadkari and Kamal Khata deplored the indefensible contention of the Maharashtra government that water was supplied wherever there was an indication. The state was compelled to tell the court what plans it had to supply water not just to Melghat but also to all residents across Maharashtra. Governments hold water, a life-sustaining resource, in trust for all people under the public trust doctrine and are duty-bound to protect it from pollution and ensure its supply to everyone. The true cost of water fouling due to industrial and municipal pollution, however, finds no place in the development balance sheet, which relies on a single GDP growth number. Ironically, economic growth factors in the industries producing pollution control equipment but not the human losses. In 2022, the Central Pollution Control Board acknowledged that half of 605 rivers in the country were polluted. Poor municipal waste management, meanwhile, continues to send a constant flow of plastics, other solid trash, chemicals, and household hazardous materials to the sea, making India a leading contributor to the global pollution crisis.
As a country heavily dependent on the monsoon for agriculture and drinking water in populous cities, it is an alarm signal that the Union government recently decided to implement contingency plans in 315 districts that recorded a 43% rainfall deficit. Climate change threatens to add severe uncertainty, as extreme weather phenomena—unseasonal flood-causing rain or long periods of drought—upend traditional weather patterns. It would appear that Indian cities, the top 6 of which host about 100 million people, are running out of clean water and groundwater as urbanisation expands while reservoirs can cater only to the small population sizes that existed half a century ago. The answer to this conundrum lies partly in augmenting blue-green infrastructure: creating more percolation spaces, lakes and reservoirs, preserving those that have not been built over and treating wastewater for non-potable reuse. Rivers like the Ganga, the focus of the Namami Gange clean-up plan, are still not free of threats, and the government obfuscates the true quality of its waters across several states. After spending over ₹21,340 crore since 2014 on Namami Gange, all that it is willing to say is that the Biochemical Oxygen Demand criteria are met for bathing, with exceptions in severely polluted stretches under Kanpur, Raebareli, and Ghazipur. India is undoubtedly becoming water stressed, and, without alacritous measures, will painfully endure its effects.
