Droughts in India and Ethiopia: Real water crisis

Given the negative attitude of tens of thousands of Irish people to paying for water, it is worth looking at the plight of 300m people currently in the merciless grip of a severe drought in India which is facing its worst water crisis in years. 

It means that one quarter of the population are in dire trouble because they do not have enough water. Admittedly, in this country the reverse is often the case because we tend to have too much water, with all that implies in terms of home-destroying floods — all because of global warming.

In Ethiopia people are also facing the worst drought in decades. Already, according to Laura Tuck of the World Bank, droughts have caused widespread crop failure, leading to food shortages which affect one in 10 people.

Inevitably in the kind of situations that she depicts, there is a danger that not only will social tensions rise but they could explode and end in conflict and even trigger war between neighbouring countries. And all because the availability of water is critically low. That puts the Irish scenario in stark contrast.