The fight for water :

Water, one of the basic needs for human survival. You may think It's just water, how luxurious can it be? While many are blessed with easy access to clean water for their everyday needs, many people are still struggling and fighting just to get a bucket of water.

For the developed world, Yes it is just one of the basic daily requirements for our day to day life and can't be considered a luxury. However, in parts of the developing and underdeveloped world it's another story altogether. 

Let us dive into Kohima city, the capital of Nagaland, a small state in India at the extreme east bordering India and Myanmar and see how they struggle for water.
With a resident population of almost 100,000, kohima is the second largest town/city in the state. Kohima originally known as Kewhira was founded when the British Empire established its headquarters of the then Naga Hills in 1978. It was in 1963 that it became the capital after the state of Nagaland was inaugurated. Located at an altitude of 1,444 m above sea level the city experiences temperate climate throughout the year.

While the city has developed a lot in terms of infrastructures and other facilities in the past two decade it still has a lot of room for improvement.
One of the many problems faced by the residents of Kohima City is the acute shortage of water. Once the monsoon has retreated and the dry season sets in, it is a nightmare for many people. During the monsoon the residents harvests as much rainwater as they can and stores them in
tanks and other storages. However, these harvested water can only be used at maximum one to two months after the monsoon has retreated. Once the harvested water is used up people rely on other sources of water like wells, rivers, community ponds and water pipelines.
But with the increase in population and the rapid urbanization in the past decades, most of the river sources have become unfit for daily utilization. Not only that the tap water from the water pipeline is irregular and can't be relied on. This has put a huge strain on community ponds where everyone from the locality gets their daily water requirement.

Once the dry season has set in, many people start to sell water either through their wells, ponds or even vehicles. While it is a boon for the owners and a fast way out of water shortage for those that can afford to buy it, many can't afford to buy water daily. These people heavily depend on the community ponds and rivers for their daily water requirements.

As stated earlier, because of the increase in population and rapid urbanization there is shortage of water in these community ponds. In order to fetch a few buckets of water one needs to wake up very early at about 4-5 am and reserve your spot just to get your 3-4 buckets of water in the evening. Some people wait the whole night for their term till the wee hours just for a few buckets. The huge amount of time lost and wasted in fetching water robs the communities of their future.

However, these few buckets of water are not sufficient for their daily needs and Ultimately in the end people are forced to buy water for their daily needs.

Hopefully with the rapid urbanization and development in the city, the government comes up with better plans for the city. Especially a well thought out plan for the water pipelines which will work efficiently and will improve the quality of life for the people living in the city. 

So while water is just a basic everyday need for many it is also a luxury for many. Oh what it feels like to live where water is abundant and you don't have to struggle for a few buckets of water everyday.

However, Kohima isn't the only city in India that is struggling. It has been declared that India is facing its largest water crisis yet. Although India has made significant improvements over the past few decades to both the availability and quality of drinking water systems, its large population has stressed planned water resources. Not only that but the rapid growth in India's urban areas has stretched government solutions, which in turn have been compromised by over-privatization.

India's water crisis is often attributed to increased corporate privatization, industrial and human waste, and lack of government planning and corruption. The water crisis in India is expected to worsen as the overall population is expected to increase to 1.6 billion by 2050. By then the global water scarcity is expected to become a leading cause of national political conflict.