You never miss the water till the well runs dry
The situation is stark, to say the least. Scenes of thousands of people queuing up to fetch drinking water are all over social media in India. The worst fears of environmentalists and water conservationists have come true.
Chennai, the provincial capital of the southern Indian province of Tamil Nadu, has become the first Indian city to have gone dry. And the future looks bleak for the city's residents as India's Central Water Commission has reported a rainfall deficit of 41 percent in Tamil Nadu till June 13 this year.
Yet till two decades ago, Chennai was among the water-surplus cities in India. Following the traditional water conservation practice in Tamil Nadu, Chennai had nearly two dozen water bodies, which included three rivers and the British era Buckingham Canal. Today, it has just half a dozen.
