India prays for rain as water wars break out

This will be the scenario for the whole world in the near future.
Over population is one reason the global warming, destruction of the rainforest another. I know people in the slums are not well educated and don't get informed by means of literature. So, is it not time that that goverments step in and limit the amount of childeren a family can have, like in China. There is no quality of life for these childeren anyway. Compulsory birthcontol is the anwser for all countries who will face starvation due to low yelds of their farms or drought stricken. Is that not a rationale thing to do? Don't think that it will happen though!

I have to agree with you, Ben - both that compulsory population control is long overdue in developing countries, and that it'll never happen. It strikes me that a nation's collective leaning towards self distruction and a government's insistence on ignoring the truth will be the end of us all.

I disgree with the both of you. Here are you talking about India, or you are busy talking of other countries elsewhere or its a direct attack on South Africa or Zimbabwe. We should not forget the subject, the water crisis in India. The reasons why the Bopal waters are considered to be deadly IS SOMETHING ELSE.

Please lets not mix issues as always.

The Bhopal disaster is frequently cited as the world's worst industrial disaster caused by a British Company which refused to clean the waters around Bhopal. The ground water was affected ever since, and when it rains the fresh water remains at the top, whilst the deadly toxics remain at the bottom. Once the water levels are low, the people will continue to drink the toxic waters which affect their health. Birth control does not help, because it also has its effects in long terms. For example Japan is having an old aging work force and the rate of the young workers verses those nearing retirement, is causing concern in Japan. Th same applies to German, The UK and US. China and India's population numbers are the main driving force for their development. Weather forecast is important, but even with cloud seeding, wind direction can not be influenced by technology. Even when using Desalination Technologies, which are used mostly in the indian ocean by the Arabian countries this can be the major contributors which are affecting the warmth of the ocean which in turn affect rainfall. Lets find solutions to problems instead of this childish slandering African Governments as good for nothing wont solve the problems. There is enough knowledge and capable people who know what to do as long as they are given the support, not just money. Throwing money to people does not solve things, its about research and assistance to develop methods to technology. Tecnhology is not only from Europe, for why should Africa fail to develop solar systems which pump water from underground and generate electricity which is readily and cheaply available around Africa.

india has the largest number of doctors in the world. The highest numebr of poor people in the world. The highest number of wealth people in the world. Yet someone is belittling them from South Africa, its more about jealousy. I was informed by a professional person, that now india is going to be venturing into Tourism Medical Treatments. To reconcile what is happening in India with the level of poverty is vast differences. There are over 600 million destitute living in poverty, but we only hear about starving Africans. No wonder we get comments from people like Shelly and Ben, whilst the pictures shown are for pushing for an ugly agenda. That African dont know anything, except if they are given Aid they would die, that is the greatest lie. Watch and learn Africa is not going to be a laughing stock any more, Euroepans economies have failed and are failing apart.

I live in Japan at the moment. People are worried about this issue:
"For example Japan is having an old aging work force and the rate of the young workers verses those nearing retirement, is causing concern in Japan."
I'm no statistician, or economist, or anything like that. But what I want to know is this: if we have to have positive population growth to keep our economies running, is the world population supposed to grow forever and ever? Surely we don't have the space, and much more alarmingly in many places, the water. So how do we get around it?

I do agree with you Thuthukani Mkhize. plz let them worry about Africa since India is in Africa. They don't want to read and do some reseach yet they want to comment.

It's called a conversation, guys. There's no rule here to say one thread of thought can't lead to another. And of course it's not an attack on SA or Zim to be deeply concerned about a growing population of impoverished people and starving kids struggling to survive on dwindling resources. If more of us cared about realities rather than semantics, perhaps we wouldn't have such a problem.

Thuthukani Mkhize - the British are responsible for Bhopal's water woes? There is an interesting leap of logic. Nothing to do with too many people and natural limits to growth then? Very reassuring to hear that...

I find it more common now these days. People hear, but don't listen to what is said and read with a subjective mind. When they read the first sentence their mind goes to a narrow mode,try to find anything sinister in what the other person has to say. Nowhere in my comments did I mention any particular continent or country. I merely stated that is becoming WORLD wide problem. And that the WORLD can not sustain the rate the population is growing. Economics, wealth or no wealth more doctors etc. (what has that to do with the topic?) So when you read something try to be objective and not subjective.

Thuthukani Mkhize,

Yes, the story is about india, however, the message is valid for south Africa. It is a fact that south Africa is an arid country, india not. Combine our growing population, available resources, , aging technology and infrastructure, poor municipal governance, corruption, non compliance of water and wastewater treatment works, ecological degradation, etc and you’ll get a pending war for one of life’s necessities; water. Its not a black or white thing, its not a rich or poor thing… without water you’ll perish, my friend.

You are right about one thing though ‘There is enough knowledge and capable people who know what to do as long as they are given the support, not just money.’. Unfortunately, when was the last time you’ve seen proactive governance in our country? When was the last time people were satisfied with service delivery? When as the last time our government had sufficient funds to pay their employees? If our government does not have sufficient planning or economical resources, how are we supposed to evade this tragedy staring us in the face? Keep in mind, a one year drought will most certainly make my point very clear.

moloko moloko

Excuses are at time a sign of poor planing and it did start recently. Life spans of infrastructures need to be taken into consideration as well, and without having set aside replacement money, it does not grow from trees over night.

This issue of running out of resources is a wrong analysis. Check thing like this, as a country DRC is equal to the size of the whole western Europe from Russia, the number of population tells us clearly. DRC population is only 60 million people, whilst The UK has a population of 65 million a country the size of Kruger National Park. The is enough resources within Africa, including water, but at times, most African countries are spend most of thier time on comsumption items and on internal protection instead of interlinkages for better development. The Congo River if it was controlled could supply enough water through Africa to places like Botswana Kalahari and turn that area into agricultural areas, just like what is happening in the Sahara desert. The Zambezi River the same could be done and supply all the arid areas with steady reliable water sources which could increase food production. So much water is just left to flow into the Indian Ocean and Altantic Ocean and then people cry foul when there are droughts. Planing, strategies and vision is need more than having a powerful military. Africa waste its resources buying useless things because of showing off and wanting to be seen, for what? Poverty is an excuse at time of lack of planing and think in short term instead of long term like 50 years.

Sorry but every time I read an article about water, I have to beat this drum: There is alternative technology available to replace water borne sewerage systems i.e. dry toilets or urine diversion systems.
Government is building thousands of RDP houses, so why are they missing an opportunity of installing urine diversion systems into these houses? This would decrease the burden on tap water supplies and water treatment plants and decrease sewerage contamination of our rivers.

There is plenty of technology which replaces the old pond sewage systems. The latest technology uses bacteria to clean water, and use the gases to generate electricity without having to use thermal power stations, but to get these on ground needs political commitment and serious money to buy the rights to use these technologies. Was doing a research on sewages and found out a Zimbabwean Engineer just completed and commissioned this technology for The City Of London. Water will be needed, but the amount of flashing the toilet can be reduced, as the end uses for toilet waste in a billion dollar industry, which South Africa is throwing away.

Thuthukani Mkhize - Your comment: ‘This issue of running out of resources is a wrong analysis.'

Your examples given for your argument is very poor. DRC is situated on the equator and has more than triple South Africa’s rainfall, and have you ever been to the UK, it rains all the time. These are not ARID countries, however, south Africa is. In addition, your hypothesis of using the Congo river to feed the continent is an indication of your lack of understanding regarding water cycle, ecology and economy. Furthermore, the basis of your comment, that we do not have a water shortage, is misinformed and you obviously did not look at any literature published by independent and government bodies, i.e. DWAF, WRC, EWISA etc. which all agree that we have a severy water shortage in our country. I am amased that there are still people sharing your view!


Your reference to modern technologies, using bacteria to clean water and using the gas to generate electricity is as old as the first sewage treatment plant. We do not require more investment in capital projects, we require effective management of our current purification works, we require that municipalities comply with DWAF standards for wastewater treated effluent. I agree with Andrew, the UDS (or dry sanitation systems) is the way to go. We don’t need new technology but appropriate technology.

you know this "london it rains all the time" thing is really tiring. for one thing, it's not entirely the rain that counts, it's the constant cloudiness with high humidity which is what keeps the british isles [and most of northern europe] so green.

put another way, bloemfontein averages only 10 percent less rain than london; johannesburg averages nearly 10% *more*. [and new york, btw, averages twice as much rain as london, but you don't hear people talking about how cloudy and overcast new york is, now do you?]

it's not the rainfall in and of itself; it's the delivery mechanism. one of the worst droughts in recent american memory, fwiw, resulted from the clouds taunting the south for *months* without rain. [atlanta is still under serious water restrictions].

yet again, we have the standard white people whining about foo when the real whine should be about bar. but whatever keeps you lot in your air of pseudo-superiority. eish.

moloko moloko

The sewarage TM is talking about is the latest technology in the world, France has one, UK has rolled out one less than 6 months ago, and these still not available in Africa. Digestive ponds also use bacteria, but this is not the system being talked about. If it was so just one plant can generate enough power to Cape Town, so research again my friend. Are you talking about bucket system again, and calling it new technology, what rubbish is that its now called D.U.U.T is what you are talking about, how is this then collected from the toilets once they are full?

India is getting exactly what it deserves.
It amazes me how couples who live in a slum, with no water and basic facilities, still have the audactiy to breed.
A one child policy for India, with mandatory sterilization of the lower classes is a must.

i too have no sympathy for india. you might not have had a choice about whether or not you live in a slum, but you MOST CERTAINLY DO HAVE A CHOICE about having children. No argument in the world is going to change that. Nuff said.

children in african and india and all indigenous cultures are symbols of wealth and prosperity, and are loved even in poverty. obviously all you borgeoius colonial worshippers have been so thoroughly enslaved into accepting western ideals as a way of life that you see nothing else. On the contrary india's natural resources are much more threatened by multi national corporations, eg. coca cola, and many others, well documented too. who steal natural resources from developing countries while using cheap labour to maintain their super brands, than they are by growing poulations.

and ofcourse well educated, well read people, must know that 80% of the worlds non renewable resources are currently used by 15% of its populations. Poor people everywhere, india, s.a, zim know how to recycle and already live sustainable lives. its the rich who need to learn to curb their greed.

Population control as promoted by the ignorant blind green-ers is just another genocide of teh poor , oh and co-incidentally non white people of the wrld.
caio

Yes, I see the great wealth and prosperity of the lower caste Indian kids playing in the sewers, or the proud Africans selling their precious bundles of joy to barren American pop-stars. The last time the `West` had a bust up over resources and wealth, we saw 2 world wars. Now its the time for India and China to start slitting each other´s throats. Water and energy are 2 simple ways of this happening.......or like the Chinese, Indians, Pakis, Arabs and Africans should start implementing a one child policy....one way of ridding poverty is to get rid of the poor...cos they serve no significant use in the world.