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Folks,
I have been staying in Mehndiganj for the past 2 months and have documented the status of the water table in Mehndiganj based on the survey we did in the area. I have attached the full report and a short summary on the report. -Chandrika Disappearing Water Levels – Status of water table in Mehndiganj and surrounding villages of Varanasi, U.P
Savithri Devi from Mehndiganj has the following question to the Coca-Cola plant and the government:
“When we used to have droughts earlier, we used to rely on ground water to see us through the years. Now with Coca-Cola taking our water away, what shall we do in drought situation?” The decreasing water table due to the exploitation of lakhs of liters of water by Coca-Cola has been a cause for concern for the community and is the basis of the struggle initiated by Lok Samiti, NAPM, Gaon Bachao Sangarsh Samiti and Sajha Sanskruti Manch.
A study was conducted to document the current status of the water table and the impact of Coca-Cola plant in the community. The study was conducted in eight villages (Mehndiganj, Nagepur, Bhikaripur, Rakhona, Kallipur, Chittapur,Kachnar, Benipur) with in 3 km radius of the Coca-Cola plant. All the shallow wells, bore-wells, hand pumps with in 3km radius were covered by interviewing the owners or the users of the water bodies.90% of the wells in the area have been affected by the presence of Coca-Cola. 39% of the shallow wells have either dried or in the process of drying since 2000 when Coca-Cola started its operations in the region. 25% of the wells have dried and 14% are in danger of drying. The number of wells that have dried since Coca-Cola came here has increased seven folds compared to previous decade (1990-2000). In Kallipur region, 8 out of 12 wells have dried since 2000.50% of the wells have also seen a drop in water level. An average of 18 feet drop has been observed in the last 10 years. Comparatively, the previous decade saw a drop of 1.6 feet. The rate of drop in water level has exceeded by 1000% since Coca-Cola came to Mehndiganj area. Over 68% of wells have water level at 40 feet or higher. Ten years ago, the same number was at 20%.
Out of 73 bore-wells installed in the region, 10 bore-wells have gone dry. 4 bore-wells have alreadydried between 2001 and 2006.With wells drying out, the community is increasingly dependent on hand pumps for its basic water needs. A hand pump may cost somewhere between 20,000 to 25,000 Rs for installation. For most in Mehndiganj, this is a cost that cannot be afforded by families or neighborhoods. This is increasing the community’s dependence on the state for its basic needs. Number of hand pumps installed has increased in the last decade from 45 to 220 by a rate of 380% and the state owns 68% of the hand pumps compared to wells which were owned by families and communities.
However status of hand pumps does not present a happy picture either. Since 2000, 43% of the hand pumps have stopped working or have intermittent water supply. Before Coca-Cola came, only three hand pumps had problems but now 94 hand pumps have problems. 12% of the hand pumps have gone dry in the region(In Nagepur as many as 30% of hand pumps have gone dry) and 32% of the hand pumps do not provide continuous supply of water.
Coca-Cola has cited drought and water use in agriculture as the reasons for decreasing water table and evades its responsibilities. However the subdivision rainfall data shows that Eastern U.P has faced droughts in 1991, 1992, 1993, 2002 and 2004.Similarly the number of bore-wells used for irrigation increased by 22% and 15% over last two decades. Comparatively the water table drop in the last two decades has been at 1.6 feet and 18 feet. Hence drought and agriculture does not account for this large decrease in water table. According to an overwhelming majority, Coca-Cola is to be blamed for this decrease in water table and drought is just making this situation more miserable.
The community’s view point on water has been to see water as common resource closely integrated with their life and livelihood. Most of the wells owned by families were used communally and the neighbors did not have to pay for use of water for their basic needs. This is in conflict to state’s policy defined on pressure from international institutions such as WTO, World Bank and IMF and multinational corporations such as coca-Cola and Pepsi which declare water as a
commodity to be traded with in free market dictats.
The state is throwing out red carpet to industries that exploit people’s natural resources for their own profit. At the same time, the state is structurally dismantling its responsibilities towards fulfilling the rights of its citizens and reducing its expenditure in social sectors with increasing privatization of social services. With suchanti-people policies, does the state have an answer to Savithri Devi?
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