A dry winter this year in Kashmir has resulted in the worst form of water crisis and serious implications of water crisis both for human consumption and agriculture productivity in the state. Presently Kupwara and Bandipora districts in North Kashmir and Budgam district in Central Kashmir are the worst hit by deepening water crisis in valley. Even in Srinagar district the public health engineering department is supplying water to the people in phases with long breaks of water cuts ranging from eight to nine hours per day and in some areas worst hit by the deepening water crisis the public health engineering department has started sending water tankers . As the crisis of water availability is deepening day after day it seem that if the dry spell does not end soon in valley the situation will be alarming next month in most parts of Kashmir valley. Even the engineers overseeing the water regulation process in the public health engineering department say that depletion in the water supply has already cross 30% and even curtailment schedules put in place this may not work next month if the dry spell does not break in next fifteen days or so. If the dry spell continues and water crisis deepens further the public health engineering department would be forced to tap the ground water resources in Kashmir valley. Though for ground water availability the government will have to install hand pumps and dig bore wells in advance to ensure that a water catastrophe does not take a heavy toll of hapless populations in Kashmir valley. In Kashmir valley the water availability is a matter of grave concern for hoteliers and agriculturists also as the hotels in Kashmir are packed to capacity during mid summer season and for paddy cultivation also the irrigation facility becomes an issue of concern in mid summer months .
To overcome the water crisis in Kashmir valley the government will have to come out with a comprehensive plan for managing its water resources as merely installing hand pumps and digging bore wells in trying times won’t work.
So water crisis in Kashmir is not just a community concerns but also an issues of economic concern. Unfortunately the government is tending to respond to the situation with a casual approach as cosmetic measures like sending water tankers to the worst hit area and digging bore wells or installing hand pumps are going to help the government to overcome the deepening water crisis. To overcome the water crisis in Kashmir valley the government will have to come out with a comprehensive plan for managing its water resources as merely installing hand pumps and digging bore wells in trying times won’t work.
