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At a time when cutting corners seems to be the norm to contain rising household budgets, how do you manage to tackle an expense which has surreptitiously shot up, but cannot be curtailed? The cost of clean drinking water in an Indian household comprising the husband and the wife stands at approximately Rs 6,000 (20 litre jars) while the maintenance costs for water purifiers is over Rs 5,000 (the first year is generally free) and servicing costs tend to go northwards from the second year onwards.

A significant section of the population lives in rented accommodations and refrains from investing in water purifiers. They are dependent on local water suppliers as everyone cannot afford popular brands.

Water scarcity is a global issue but clean drinking water is the basic right of every citizen. A human being cannot afford to drink less water due to rising costs. But it is slowly eating into the household budget while the whole noise is only focused on the rising vegetable and meat prices. Unfortunately, not a single political party too seems to be bothered.

Charas, a Bollywood movie starring the late Irrfan Khan in 2004, did not quite set the box office on fire but contained one dialogue by the legendary actor which can sum up this situation. “Iss desh main jab tak koi problem badi na ho, tab tak woh problem nahin hai,” Irrfan had muttered.

Unfortunately, water woes is something we have to live with it and the premium attached with clean drinking water will continue to rise. While rising milk prices may have forced people to cut down on offering tea and coffee to every visitor, that day will not be far away when people will think twice before asking and offering water.

Saving for the rainy day has now a real ‘water’ connection. Policymakers need to come up with long-term water policy with focus on drinking water for the country.