Water woes in rural Kashmir

The water scarcity is so much disturbing in villages of Kashmir valley that women are seen waiting in long queues for hours together for their turn at the village’s few public posts, or common water taps. It takes them hours together to fetch water from public posts. The community water taps in the villages sit hardly a few centimeters above the ground, so the women first collect water in a small container and then pour it into a bigger vessel. As far as the general understandability is concerned this is too tiresome, and one family can collect one pot of water at a time. In most of the villages of Kashmir the water pipes have been laid 50 years back, and the water pressure in these pipes is too low. The other factor multiplying the water woes of people in rural Kashmir is that the water in most of the villages is available for few hours a day in the wee hours, so it’s first come, first serve. Those who arrive early succeed in collecting water, while others have to return home empty-handed. After waiting for hours and if luck favors them, most of the women are able to collect one pot of water and at time they return home with empty pots. Irony of the fact is that in most of the villages local wells and irrigation systems are also nonfunctional. Fact remains that the residents in most of the Kashmiri villages say they have water problems for decades now. Moreover, they say the situation has gone from bad to worse because the streams they used to rely on are now polluted. Though the administration is obliged to take measures for smooth availability of water in both rural and urban parts of Kashmir, but is yet to wake up from deep slumber to address the issue of water scarcity in Kashmir villages.