By Vincent Van Ross

Water is the elixir of life. So, all ancient civilizations were found near rivers and other sources of water. Even today, when you are thirsty, you may drink fruit juices or soft drinks. That might bring some respite. But, only water can really quench your thirst.

Emperor Akbar built a magnificent city at Fatehpur Sikri with the idea of shifting his capital from Agra. But, he had to abandon it because the Yamuna river was some 40 kilometres away and daily transportation of water to such a long distance posed a great problem.

In the olden days, there used to shops selling earthen pots called matka or surahi outside railway stations. So, before getting into the train everybody would buy an earthen pot for drinking water. Sometimes, the earthen pots would roll over or break flooding the whole compartment! That would cause such mayhem with people trying to save their belongings from the flowing water in the middle of the night. Now, everybody drinks water from bottles.

In Rajasthan and Gujarat where water has always been scarce, they constructed stepped wells which went deep into the earth till they hit the water table.

In Bengal, the ground water used to be laced with arsenic in many areas. Arsenic is slow poison which causes deformities in human body. So, they had to look to other sources for potable water.

There was a time when water was absolutely free. We could draw as much water from wells, ponds, streams and rivers as we wanted. And, the water was not contaminated. It was potable.

Whatever little water is being supplied by the municipality to new colonies is hard water. That is not fit for drinking. So, water purifiers and water filters found a great market.

Water filters require periodic maintenance. They need electricity. Sometimes, they would not work because there is no electricity. Sometimes, they conk off. Ultimately, we have to depend on bottled water. So, many residents have dumped their water filters and switched over to bottled water. At least, it is hassle free and doesn’t need any electricity to run.

Western tourists always drink bottled water because they think that is the only safe drinking water. They fear contracting waterborne diseases if they drink water from any other source. Most of the popular brands of bottled water are owned by multinationals. Initially, they called it mineral water. But, when the term ‘mineral water’ was defined, they found that their bottled water did not meet the standards and specifications. Now, they sell bottled water as drinking water.

Here I am tempted to quote (or, should I say, misquote!) a verse from Samuel Taylor Coleridge’s “A Rime of the Ancient Mariner”:
“Water, water, everywhere,
Nor any drop to drink.”
I wonder how he could foresee ages ago that we would run into a problem of potable water in the time to come considering that six out of seven portions of the earth is covered with water?

We have reached a stage where safe drinking water is bottled. That is okay. But, there is a growing impression that only bottled water is safe to drink. That only bottled water is potable. We need to do some rethinking on that!