Dr Fawzia Tarannum realized that due to the diversity of a nation like India, where culture, belief, values, sentiments and aspirations, change every 100 kilometers, the philosophy of 'one size fits all' could not be applied to water conservation programs.

For the past fifteen years, Dr Fawzia Tarannum, an assistant professor at The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI), has worn the mantle of a warrior - a water warrior. With a primitive interest in the conservation and rejuvenation pf rivers and water bodies in India, it pained Dr Tarannum to look at the collective wisdom of the country going to waste when it came to water conservation.

Within just a few years of working in the field, Dr Tarannum realized that due to the diversity of a nation like India, where culture, belief, values, sentiments and aspirations, change every 100 kilometers, the philosophy of "one size fits all" could not be applied to water conservation programs.

Ever since 2005, Dr Tarannum has tried to bridge this gap between India's rich heritage of water conservation and current programs and policies for the conservation of water. Despite no background in Mechanical or Marine Engineering, Dr Tarannum has worked closely on building of shallow water excavator dredgers for desilting of lakes, ponds and rivers across India.

Not one to stop at just introducing and trying out new techniques of conservation, Dr Tarannum has also taken it upon herself to teavh future generations the importance of water conservartion and sustainabality. For the past five years, the "water warrior" has been working as a faculty member in the Water Department at the TERI School of Advanced Studies, where she has sensitised over 3,000 young persons about water conservation practices and rainwater harvesting.

Dr Tarannum has also employed her expertise at local levels. She is an advisor to the GuruJal Society, established under the District administration of Gurugram since its inception and has advised them on the technology and the interventions required for pond rejuvenation in the Gurugram district.

As part of its Mission Paani iniative, News18.com got in touch with the water warrior to understand whether India is currently in the middle of water crisis and what it needs to do to meet the global goals of sustainability when it comes to water management and conservation.

Do you think India is currently facing a water crisis? If so, why and what can we do about it?

Yes, India is facing a water crisis. India has been water-stressed for over a decade now as the 2011 Census brought out that the annual per capita water availability in India was mere 1545 cubic meter. A country is said to be underwater stress when the annual per capita water availability reduces below 1700 cubic meter. The NITI Aayog report on Composite Water Index published in 2018 brought out that 21 cities in India shall run out of groundwater in 2020. The finding is echoed in the Aqueduct Water Risk Atlas released by the World Resources Institute (WRI) in 2019 which placed India at the 13th position among the world's 17 'extremely water-stressed' countries. The Chennai drought, the day zero in Shimla, the alarming decline in the groundwater in the breadbasket region, the prolonged droughts in several states and the suicides by more than 60,000 farmers in the last 5 years, all bear testimony to the looming water crisis in India...

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