United states and President Trump into conflict we meet with global news makers and talk about the stories that matter just 0. What happens when a metropolis runs out of water and one indian city nearly 11000000 residents are finding out. And youre in the stream. The water supply has dipped dangerously low in chennai a bustling mega city in the southern indian state of tom nadu each day for the past several weeks crowds form the long lines of water tankers sinton by the government for many life now revolves around finding enough water to drink and stay clean so every drop house was speaking to al jazeera this month one resident of chennai explained how dire the situation has become take a look out of without what the u. N. Already built to cook food we are not able to sleep as yet running around in search of water the water problem is very severe this yet and you know authority has bothered to take necessary steps on the. O. B. V. Shout to several government officials including at the ministries of water power Waste Water Management and Climate Change we also contacted them in this apology waterworks but have not received a response from any of them however in recent weeks officials blamed the media for exaggerating the water problem and said a lack of rain caused the shortage so joining us to discuss the water emergency is to be a national often as a senior fellow at the ashoka trust for research in ecology and the environment she leads the groups water land and Society Programme in bangalore. We have raj polony chimey raj works as a data manager for w r i india supporting projects related to water transport and energy and pm krishna is in chennai he is a musician and environmental activist welcome everyone to the stream good to have you here krishna id like to start with you because youre in sanaa so how are you and your fellow residents handling the lack of water tell us about an average day. Well i belong to a section of society thats true lou so we find ways of by and tankers and the loaning and the fact of the matter has that most people are getting 3 to 5 buckets of water ready at the just a day or sometimes only once in 2 days and get little if you go to the labor house to get the time or in general. To do that people are buying in tankers are as ridiculous and dangerous because what is happening is that what a terrible and surrounding actually goes the lands are being tapped or people are putting what was in there because of that because we are also experiencing in regards to business and that water then supplies in these huge tankers to the residents of chennai i must see that this phenomenon is not a challenge and then has gone through this phenomena of not having more of pandas being more every day for many many years its just that now its the each Tipping Point and its shocking that you know now we have a governor who should be our chief minister the state saying that there is actually a problem so thats the best really of not on 3 questions because it isnt brought up when the reality is that the what busy to do lists is completely dead we have eaten into all our marlins we have destroyed man route it destroyed our leaks the landmark years are particular hotlips structures better well it wanted. Everything to work this city has 3 to us was just barely on a cool idea or all these 3 reverse today our dreams perhaps. This is in a just greater reality of chinese so called ecology the question i am usually at that context there because i think its so interesting to hear that this is not necessarily new but it is now. More dire than it ever has been i want to share with you perspective from one of our Community Members in china who tweeted us and said we get 20 to 25 minutes of water daily i think the euro day is around the corner and of course 0 day referring to the day when the taps will completely run dry being out talk to us about what your family faces because i know your father lives in chennai what does he have to do to get water from a well thats right but like you know krishna said my dad also belongs to a relatively privileged section of society so they have a board and. The balrog was driving to did earlier in the summer they ended up having to buy a tank of water and that kind of the situation with the wealthy a society basically the wealthiest section of society buy their way out of a crisis the people that really suffer the working class so well for example you know people that might well. Work while my father for example live in islam by and said you know you get a single coming in every morning and you have to wait in line to get the awful buckets of water and theres a whole bunch of interesting that ajman about even within islam who is allowed to get how much water and they very very complex that means means all those get more than and then you get more the daughters i mean all kinds of conflicts. That that have to be worked out so if its a very its so its a much more complicated situation which well as allows you to buy your way out of course as in so many places im glad that you both make that distinction because its not lost on our Community One person on twitter says not everyone is affected the same way the poor have it real bad while the rich barely experience the crisis the poor are having to spend a disproportionately high amount on water while 5 star hotels have brimming pools and its business as usual for alcohol and Beverage Companies so that is one persons take on the discrepancy but weve got a video comment from a journalist in bangalore you and she also explains what this is meant for poorer communities have a listen to our roona. Chinas water crisis is reflective of a crisis in indias commons where you have neighborhoods that are built on leaks that flooded due to chinas floods now running completely dry these neighborhoods sound slums that have the single women crowded round waiting for the one government water to provide them. Their basic needs rice does that surprise you at all. No not much actually and i have been facing some water crisis far across. The city and but if we let on that has been growing far i have are not just the other night vision but also the recession and the radiation s. That are in a region where that is. Too much of a demand even if that is a small fortune in the play that is supposed to be attractive thats whats happening with that so the problem is actually the start of demand management then grab a book but on the other night vision and then refocus our throat thats where the problem is that the its a more structural problem rather than. One family issue or something. Chennais about the house i mean if we. Are the same thing well be getting this spark. In some other bank and we have some kind of lets say in fall of the depression. And i just it has come of them yeah you know because its a structural problem of a structural problem and also the levy structure as an idea and because im not expect that because if you look at what has happened in chad i object the evidence that i get it you see the extent of damage we have done to all our natural back to you know. What busy to do a little of you know helping us during the floods basically the city the city in which was planted just a few years ago which is not working today actually tell you theres something fundamentally a hole in the rebuilding look at the idea of all down and you look at the idea when the construct many people dont know about patients what do they really do with all the National Education natural we didnt we just want to actually particularly down in to the water table all of this has to magically destroying and that is also a fundamental structural problem in the sense of how we understood. And or development is and what going to stand of people because its also a question social justice also question aweary do people these structures which other places be destroying hinting that its not going to come going to come and hit us because the People Living there are marginal and truly that absolute injustice just pulls a cycle and towards the environment youre just coming to eat everybody including the city and the only thing we libs are doing you lack of us said by hey are you out of it we are not going to be able to buy our way out of this forever and this needs to complete eat or what we are doing to our lives what were doing to a man who has what looks like the leaks and been was this city is a city that has to believe you can be sure when the rains come it is linux systems around the small city we just feeding and storing all this water with these lakes now what have we done to them i mean these are serious dont know questions legal actions read weekly magination. So you said we have a tradition youre already doing that and then i hear you and ill go to you after this but but i want to bring this send because you heard a question i say reimagination there is needed youve been working on this issue for several years now and in fact of course are also an artist and so youve been pouring your heart into your art on this issue so i want to play a video comment from 27000 the says. Picturing you with a clip of you thinking about this issue in a music video have a listen. Thank you big. Thank you. So being a christian and there was singing about sacrificing water and other Natural Resources for the sake of quote unquote development in chennai how did we even get to this point. Yeah so what i was trying to say earlier that actually we really got to this point and i think wisner looted to it before as well weve been in exactly this point or so in 2000 feet of the board its almost visual who today because it doesnt regard for the exact same situation happened this is as it was a dry by supply were shut down the diocese and that was almost sort of the order of the you know the entire city was supplied by tangos its almost every single thing thats happening today happened 15 years ago and the thing is that there was no doubt even in 2000 liters of water that nothing was going to fundamentally going to change if we continued along the same bought and yet we did if you look back between 20032004 today. Some of the most basic things that you should have said should have been done in 2200 and there were plenty of analysis done plenty of reports written which kind of showed what should have been done basic things like you have to put meat ringlets you know get your sewage treated dont owe encroach on water bodies you know have make sure that your storage is are kind of intact because storage is pretty key to the antis and to each and all of these things were kind of said 15 years ago and weve had 15 years to think about it and still we are exactly back where we were 15 years ago so i think theres something very seriously wrong with the way we kind of allow the same cycle to repeat without changing. Who is to blame for that though is the question that so many people are asking and i hear you saying what people have been and could be doing along the way this is rocky come on twitter though and rocky says i think the government should be held responsible for all of this trouble chennai is going through improper Water Management has led to this situation and of course as we mentioned weve reached out to the government they declined i did not respond but they have created a new ministry to help tackle this crisis so how to look at indias president announcing the launch of this new ministry in june. Im a up now but we must conserve water for children and future generation the creation of the new ministry of joes shakti power of water is a decisive step in this direction which will have far reaching benefit to this new ministry the systems related to Water Conservation and management will be made more effective when i say so raj is that important 1st step or is it not enough. Just to be seen but i think its a good step that the Central Government is ready to look at this right now. I mean 1st the falling is actually the i mean i think that theres a problem. I think its a very good step and i think. Really something a lot of the details of what theyre going to do exactly what is going to come up its just its just a new ministry so were not that sure of what. I think the interest that has been there is a more. Positive but i think more should be done because actually one thing i also want to add is that this is not a its not just an aids problem actually. Regional problem. And also its. Not limited to the southern part of india many parts of india actually. May be the services and it will be another place somewhere else in the next year or Something Like that so i think some of the next graciously to be addressed. That are probably the baby up and eyes but what are the problems that. John was originally made just and i think that that has to be addressed i think for now was the Central Governments interest actually for the interest. So i want to share this i want to share this ill give it to you a question about samir says all these Big Tech Companies and tonight should help with this water crisis and pollution and so that plays really well with the video comment we got from the author of a book its called a river runs again this is near a super money and a journalist who says there are solutions and we should be looking green have a listen. The major city of can i has run out of water and part of the solution for how to deal with these kind of crises might come from Green Infrastructure and Green Infrastructure looks at working with the Natural Systems i saw the samples of this in raw just on when i was working on my book where they build joe hoggs just small check dams across the landscape that helps capture fleeting monsoon rains that south asia so depend upon and lots and percolate down and recharge offers this is part of the solution along with grey infrastructure to depend and look towards these Green Infrastructure techniques it could be an example for india and for the world. So christi you heard her take there what did you want to. Completely i think the land use and heres what we do with you know we have to ensure there were warnings and protected so you know last year has to be. There has to be a mistake get cash it is so i mean i agree with. These other that this is the direction to go but i have this that is why the about technical fixes and we have his obsession with excess and ill be here that will be talking but he said that in that one magic trick that will sort of problem and we all know what that was all rule nonsense because 1st of all it is not economically sensible to mourn that election secondly beautiful look at also what were doing with all the. Sea life because all the highway sound its what it will be discharged back into the water so the government is not talking about i think one of the senate he plants so when we talk about Tech Companies finding solutions im a little nervous about it all of who respects them and their intentions their. Can look at this instant text that says these are band aids and theyre normal that its because theyre going to vote more so we have to look at elections just it systems then we give me who has the will evolution with what systems were orchy there in place and we have to leave everybody so he said that the pressures are now that populations are going up which means we need to think of different ways will kill to link these issues and mining you were met this. Week you know that is that is appropriate for the problem and then there is what i am describing to be the big thing that were not got that will enable nonsensical by the bit because we should know where to block those trees youve got just climb trees everywhere on thing that were given its even so. You need to. Just. Be the fact that. As youre speaking there i could see raj trying to get in before you speak i wanted to share with our audience something from you this from the city fix this headline july 16th 21000 indias environmental challenges in 10 images but this is the image but i want our audience to see stress on Natural Resources the city of china is going through one of its worst ever drought of course we told you that already so this image shows the drying of one of the lakes between october 28th and they 2019 and thats a primary water source for the city you can also see the images of not just lake not just this lake but others on the back wall behind me drastic scenes here so when krishna says we need structural change we need infrastructure change how do you even go about starting it when the images look like this. I think so actually within the open yes we need these kind of looting infrastructure for example for frame of congress doing our best work for you and protecting our before protecting the lakes and the factories but actually as i said that is a problem that. The demand side and in india actually agriculture is the biggest consumer of water even within the democratic region its still in that perspective that i think the biggest intervention that we have to make effectively with the improving education education. So that can save a lot of water that the 1st. And i think thats a Good Government and. The 2nd the 2nd i want you know what been the action one thing and then a lot of experts talk about Water Resources and Water Management and all these things but actually they need to do that all the solutions and i mean the thing that i mean i dont defend the problems of testing the solutions we need a lot of data and that india is actually a very much a day deficient country that is that is another problem that is another problem that we have to organise i mean there are so many but on india then provide solutions but actually they did not know because actually they did not know that the crisis going on nobody knows less the water supply is done nobody knows work and. One of the got in some place and i was not known to the public that so i think the 1st thing that the government and this is not a very. Directly in this discussion is that the companies willing to. Do something they can intervene and they provide some kind of a little disappointed and the government. I think you. Can add a quick solution i had the as well i think you know think up or has been rather regarded rather was using the for daft idea which is basically