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We have not spared our cities. Deforestation, excessive construction, rising pollution levels have all tremendously affected our ground water systems. For most of us urban dwellers, it is something that has become routine and we have made our peace with water shortages that appear in the form of huge water tankers and water cuts that last for weeks. But when problems like these make their way to the most spectacular of places that still struggle to thrive in all their natural beauty, it is imperative to realise what our irresponsibility, our lifestyle and unaccountability towards nature has done. Shimla’s ongoing water shortage seems to have surpassed all our imaginations. Taps are running dry, bottled water prices are soaring, farmers have been stopped from drawing water for their crops, and people are queuing up in front of public taps as the city is facing a crisis like never before. It has only received half of its required 45 million litres per day (MLD) this tourist season. The fact that it witnesses a massive tourist influx around this time of the year, is making it difficult for the locals to survive as they’ve had no water for the past one week.
In recent years, Shimla has become one of the many go-to summer holiday destinations, leading to large-scale deforestation and further commercialisation of the city. The water recharge system in the city has been wrecked. The public spaces built in Shimla’s breathtaking vistas are in squalor as there is no water to lean them. Moreover, the upper Himalayas don’t seem to be receiving as much snow as they ideally should, leaving Shimla with unusually dry winters. Local authorities are making efforts by sending water tankers to areas facing the acute shortage, but the city’s uneven terrain has made it difficult for these efforts to reach certain areas, like Kasumpti. People’s need to step out and fetch water has led to traffic jams and the Shimla Summer Festival, which attracts much of the tourist crowd in summer, has been postponed with no announcement of when it might be held. Local vendors have reportedly started using water from drainage pipes to prepare food.
So if you haven’t already cancelled your trip to Shimla (if you were going on one anytime soon), then do it now. Not just because it’s inconvenient but also because the city deserves it. What is supposed to be one of the largest hill stations, has now become a concrete jungle like every other city, plus the added pressure of serving the tourists is not helping. This has led to concerns about the kind of unplanned development that is happening in the country as well as our terrible impact on the planet.
Today it’s Shimla, tomorrow it could be any other destination, but the takeaway from the present situation is clear: there’s a dire need to approach the tourism industry, and development surrounding it, from a sustainable point of view. One that does not pose a threat to the ecology and the people of the place you plan on visiting for just a couple of weeks every year. All it requires is a thought, a little consideration for the kind of consequences our current lifestyle might have.
Tourism is a thriving industry and there is no denying that. However, it now requires a two-fold effort––on behalf of both, the tourists and the local management. Resources are limited, as we’re now realising, and it’s important to look for sustainable alternatives, alongside proper management of existing resources. As a tourist, it doesn’t take much to visit a new, preferably less commercial hill station this year, pick a homestay over your usual hotel preference, volunteer at NGO’s to help out the locals or just simply be responsible with resources that we so often take for granted. After all, it’s the little things that are going to save the planet from the disaster we seem to be creating.
Feature Image Credit: The Hindu
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