Bengaluru, March 22: The World Water Day is celebrated every year on March 22. The United Nations, on its site worldwaterday.org mentions that  "World Water Day, on 22 March every year, is about focusing attention on the importance of water. The theme for World Water Day 2018 is ‘Nature for Water’ – exploring nature-based solutions to the water challenges we face in the 21st century."  But there is an alarming news for India's Bengaluru city. If reports are to be believed, Bengaluru is moving towards becoming India's first city facing the danger of severe water crisis. According to a report published in Down To Earth, an analysis undertaken indicates that over 200 cities in the world are facing water crisis. The analysis also claims that Bengaluru is fast moving towards what can be called 'Day Zero'- a term used for situation where taps start running dry.

The nature magazine Down To Earth - a magazine for science and environment, which is dedicated to writing about nature and issues faced by ecology such as global warming and climate change, has published an article titled "At least 200 cities are fast running out of water," in which Bengaluru is shown to be among cities which will soon run dry. The other cities around the globe which face the same dangers are Nairobi, Mexico city, Istanbul, Karachi, Sao Paulo, and Buenos Aires.

The report elaborates how Bengaluru has over the years become excessively dependent on the Cauvery water for drinking water. The article, citing the recent judgement by the Supreme Court on Cauvery water issue wrote that, "In fact, in February while delivering a long-awaited verdict on the sharing of the Cauvery water between Karnataka and Tamil Nadu, the Supreme Court allocated around 6.5 thousand million cubic feet of water specifically for Karnataka’s capital Bengaluru. The court said that this was made keeping in mind the “global status of the city” and the demands of its burgeoning population." But experts are of the opinion that the Supreme Court judgement which entitles Karnataka to get more water from Cauvery will prove to be of "little relief" unless Bengaluru has a detailed plan on water management.

Explaining how Bengaluru was further plunging itself into the water crisis, the 2013-14 report of the Comptroller and Auditor General stated that half of the Cauvery waters which was supplied to Bengaluru between 2009 and 2013, was wasted either due to pilferage- that is theft of water and illegally obtaining/storing water and leakage of old pipes. The report also mentions other Indian cities which are facing water problems like Chennai and Delhi.

The question to ask is why are so many cities in the world facing water crisis? The simple answer is- migration to cities in large numbers. The  growing urbanisation has been unable to keep pace with the large number of people migrating to cities, and eventually this will lead to scarcity of basic natural resources such as water. Robert McDonald, lead scientist at the US-based environmental group Nature Conservancy has offered an explanation in the article for this problem. “The main long-term driver of these shortages is the unprecedented urban growth occurring around the world,” he says. The governments around the world will have to take note of this alarming situation and take corrective measures before it is too late.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Mar 22, 2018 01:01 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).