WATER OUT THERE...NOT HERE

Water on Mars has made big news. But it hasn’t made the world strugglers any happy. For them, it is the availability of water on earth that matters more than the finding on Mars .


In a recent article I read that NASA showed images taken by the Mars Global Surveyor that suggested that water occasionally flows on the surface of Mars. The images did not actually show flowing water. Rather, they showed changes in craters, providing the strongest evidence yet that water coursed through them as recently as a few years ago, and is perhaps doing so even now. Scientists have hypothesized that vast stores of water could still persist beneath the surface of Mars.

There is a lot of hype around this news. Many intellectuals of the world are working day and night to find whether there is life on Mars or not. But the question that bothers a common man is that whether we have a Life or not? We are on a constant struggle to survive in this world.
I belong to the planet Earth. I am an Indian and if you like the details, I am a Mumbaikar. Everyday when I step out of my house to go to my work place in a local train, I don’t know whether I will survive the crowd or not? I don’t know whether I will have a life today or not! Who cares about life on Mars when it is so difficult to have a life on our own planet!

Scientists are doing a great job in trying to find out water traces on Mars. But I have a greater job to do. I have to arrange water for my household. And believe me it is not as easy as it sounds. Do you know that according to BBC the world's supply of fresh water is running out?

Already one person in five has no access to safe drinking water. The amount of water in the world is finite. The number of us is growing fast and our water use is growing even faster. A third of the world's population lives in water-stressed countries now. By 2025, this is expected to rise to two-thirds. The UN recommends that people need a minimum of 50 litres of water a day for drinking, washing, cooking and sanitation. In 1990, over a billion people did not have even that and we're a long way from achieving that. For millions of people around the world, getting it right is a matter of life and death.


In India, the problem of water is a known fact. Even a World Bank report says that India faces a turbulent water future. Within the next 15 years, India’s demand for water will exceed all its sources of supply, it warns. “Unless water management practices are changed — and changed soon — India will face a severe water crisis within the next two decades,” the report says.
There is an urgent need to look into water problem of India. New infrastructure needs to be built, especially in underserved areas such as the water-rich Northeast. India has used only about 20 per cent of its hydropower potential, as compared to 80 per cent in developed countries. Water scarcity in India is widespread in all states. The poor are the ones who suffer most. Water shortages can mean long walks to fetch water, high prices to buy it, food insecurity and diseases from drinking dirty water.

In any case, it is not just us who need water, but every other species that shares the planet with us - as well all the ecosystems on which we, and they, rely. If the amount of money and intellect that is spend in searching water on Mars was spent on our Earth, we would have been able to live a better life today. When survival is a big question in our lives who cares about Aliens on Mars?

If water on earth is not conserved, our coming generations will hear news like “Water found on earth?”
Let us join hands to make Earth a better place to live!


(edited version on http://www.merinews.com/catFull.jsp?articleID=123907&catID=1&category=World&rtFlg=rtFlg )