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Twenty-one cities in India will run out of groundwater by 2020

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Re: Twenty-one cities in India will run out of groundwater by 2020

#31

Post by DyslexicAtheist »

how much is Coca-Cola[1][2] to blame for this. Afaik it has been the center of criticism in India for over a decade now:

Coca-Cola operates 58 water-intensive bottling plants in India. In the southern Indian village of Plachimada in Kerala state, for example, persistent droughts have dried up groundwater and local wells, forcing many residents to rely on water supplies trucked in daily by the government.

[1] https://www.thoughtco.com/coca-cola-groundwater-depletion-in...

[2] https://waronwant.org/media/coca-cola-drinking-world-dry

Re: Twenty-one cities in India will run out of groundwater by 2020

#32

Post by baybal2 »

Same issue in Pakistan, it's a very watery place in comparison to say, Europe or Southern USA, but you have hard time finding a place with reliable tap water:

1. Water theft from utilities

2. Gigantic and wasteful usage of water in agriculture

3. Leaky pipes and contamination from sewage

4. Utilities are just starting to recover from decades of extreme mismanagement

5. Tanker mafia of course doing its worst to keep all of above going

Re: Twenty-one cities in India will run out of groundwater by 2020

#33

Post by chewz »

modi15 wrote: post #15

There have been a flurry of alarmists posts like these but somehow I cant wrap my head around how will we run out of water. I stay in Bangalore and some people do have the problem of water - but for the most part it doesnt seem to be an issue of 'lack' of water perse but mostly distribution issues. Bangalore has been having intermittent rains throughout the summers and even though few people use them now, but if situ…

Water relations are complex and require sophisticated culture. You are right there were cities thriving in arid climate like Karakorum dessert or Palestine. Ancient Rome had been able to supply more fresh water to the Rome via aqueduct system then entire New York used up to 1980s.

Some societies created intricate cultures like subak in Bali.

The practical question is if India can reform its water policy within years left before certain cities will start to die. Because they will otherwise.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Subak_(irrigation)

https://www.theguardian.com/cities/2016/aug/12/lost-cities-m...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roman_aqueduct

Re: Twenty-one cities in India will run out of groundwater by 2020

#34

Post by omeid2 »

chii wrote: post #23
thaumasiotes wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Watersheds may be a little too large to work well as administrative regions.

or go all in, and establish a world government. I think a single governing body is the only true way forward for humanity, if humanity is to move beyond earth and be a space faring civilization.

That is a sure fire way of endless corruption and an ultimate authoritarian regime. No checks and balances and no place to run away.

Re: Twenty-one cities in India will run out of groundwater by 2020

#35

Post by chmod775 »

carboy wrote: post #5

India does not have a water issue, they have a population issue, but it’s really hard to mange the population, so natural resources are being consumed beyond sustainability. This problem is not confined to India, it’s a problem with humanity. Nature is working on a correction.

> but it’s really hard to mange the population

China managed in a similar situation. I think it may be harder to fight people for resources, or just reducing their resource use, than making sure they are never born.

Re: Twenty-one cities in India will run out of groundwater by 2020

#36

Post by gingabriska »

gridlockd wrote: post #17
gingabriska wrote: post #10

Is there a way to limit the size of these big cities? What if they start requiring a domestic visa process to let in the people from other states? Everyone wants a life of high standards of living which cities provide along with employment. If we do not limit the number of people who can get in, it will naturally result in whole population of India moving into these cities. This will result in people making wherever…

The way it's generally balanced out is exploding property prices and an unlivable mess of traffic and perhaps pollution. However, people are willing to endure a lot if living standards are generally low.

Mumbai has high real estate price like but it doesn't stop people below the poverty line from coming to Mumbai and living in slums.

Re: Twenty-one cities in India will run out of groundwater by 2020

#37

Post by gingabriska »

barry-cotter wrote: post #14
gingabriska wrote: post #10

Is there a way to limit the size of these big cities? What if they start requiring a domestic visa process to let in the people from other states? Everyone wants a life of high standards of living which cities provide along with employment. If we do not limit the number of people who can get in, it will naturally result in whole population of India moving into these cities. This will result in people making wherever…

> If we do not limit the number of people who can get in, it will naturally result in whole population of India moving into these cities. The population of France does not all live in Paris, nor that of the USA in New York. Even in as small a country as Luxembourg not everyone lives in Luxembourg City.

I must ask, does Paris or Luxembourg has slums like Mumbai has? Higher prices doesn't stop people below poverty line from coming to Mumbai and living below the standards here.

Re: Twenty-one cities in India will run out of groundwater by 2020

#38

Post by chmod775 »

bobosha wrote: post #8
carboy wrote: post #5

India does not have a water issue, they have a population issue, but it’s really hard to mange the population, so natural resources are being consumed beyond sustainability. This problem is not confined to India, it’s a problem with humanity. Nature is working on a correction.

I beg to differ, India's population density is comparable to many Western European countries. They a problem of population distribution. Like many developing nations, populations cluster in large cities leading to pressures on resources.

Most european countries have highly cultivated land and are industrialized through and through. It might go faster nowadays, but it took them hundreds of years to get there. Turning the middle of nowhere into arable land doesn't happen over night in any case.

This makes them able to efficiently provide for their population with the land they have available. India has some way to go in that respect.

This is not accounting for differences in geography or resources - like water - that are directly limited unless you want to build infrastructure for artificial water purification too.

Re: Twenty-one cities in India will run out of groundwater by 2020

#39

Post by Shivetya »

gingabriska wrote: post #10

Is there a way to limit the size of these big cities? What if they start requiring a domestic visa process to let in the people from other states? Everyone wants a life of high standards of living which cities provide along with employment. If we do not limit the number of people who can get in, it will naturally result in whole population of India moving into these cities. This will result in people making wherever…

This is not a problem of city size but lack of planning for growth at the regional level. Look at New York City as an example, they started sourcing water from far distances early on and built an infrastructure to support a very large city. cities need to develop their surrounding areas to support themselves, sprawl isn't just because people don't want to live in a city sprawl is also required to support one

.

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