Water scarcity

Sir: On the subject of irrigation and water consumption, the world faces three major issues that need to be sorted out at the earliest. To begin with, rainwater harvesting still remains only on paper. All attempts to implement rainwater harvesting have so far yielded no good results. The vagaries of the monsoon every year and receding groundwater levels only emphasise the need for such water harvesting methods. Secondly, most rivers are reeling under severe ecological damage caused by the illegal sand mining and over-exploitation of river sand while deforestation is only adding to the mess. Finally, we still lack big dams. Innovative and scientific methods should be adopted to renovate and construct dams.

P SENTHIL SARAVANA DURAI
Mumbai
India