By Mohammed Naser Azeez, Managing Director, Aquality Water Solutions Pvt. Ltd. –
Water is the most vital resource that we all use every single day. At global level, 2 billion people lack access to safely managed drinking water at home. The United Nations report on how climate change is affecting world’s water resources has estimated that around half of the world population, nearly 5 billion people will face at least one month of water shortage by 2050. Lack of adequate water facility near homes is forcing women and girls in 8 out of 10 rural households to collect water for their family.
India’s population is expected to rise from 1417 million currently to 1670 million by 2050, drastically increasing the demand for water. Several billion extra litres of water per day will be needed for public water supply while the demand for industries and agriculture will also grow exponentially. Unless major changes are made to our water management system, we simply won’t have enough water to meet this demand.
The theme of World Water Day this year bring in focus the growing need of accelerated efforts to change the scenario of water provision for everyone under the Sustainable Development Goal-6 (SDG6) and encourage people to use water judiciously and live more sustainably. Water demand is rapidly rising due to population growth, urbanization and increasing pressures from the agriculture, energy and industrial sectors.
The economic progress worldwide has given rise to per-capita income which led to more consumption and life style changes together with increased awareness about the importance of safe drinking water, created huge demand for water. Access to safe water is intrinsically linked to human health and well-being which is under tremendous challenge with reducing resources and increasing contamination.
In my opinion, the most effective way to address the prevailing and emerging water challenges is to deal with it in most holistic manner. Each nation can follow the Singapore example to establish a single authority that deals with the entire water system – from the source at catchment where water drops to where it finally ends in the ocean. We need radical changes in policies and governance with swift decision making for holistic water management that also make water saving attractive and easy to implement for people and industries.
Aquality Water Solutions Private Limited works closely with industries and institutions in a number of areas concerning water for health and productivity including water treatment for producing clean and safe water. As a strong mission driven organization, it has worked relentlessly with the sole intention of providing clean drinking water facility to its domestic and industrial clients. It has contributed immensely to the water treatment segment that has helped in improving quality of life of citizens with commitment, technological innovations and quality excellence.
The pandemic has shown that with a clear goal, diverse parties can collaborate and move at pace, sparking innovation. Every policy, plan and action need to be accelerated to bring the change towards creating a sustainable, resilient, and inclusive world with water positivity which places people and planet over profit.