Soft Drinks- Hard Realities

By the middle of this century “at worst 7 billion people in 60 countries and at best 2 billion people in 48 countries will be water scarce”. (The Hindu dated 16th May, 2004).

The world water-crisis paints a very grim picture.

India is among nine countries which account for 60% of the world’s natural fresh water.

But unfortunately, water resources in our country are being polluted by the industrial effluents, untreated sewerage; ground water is contaminated by heavy use of pesticides and dumping of toxic wastes; there are no efforts made to recharge the natural aquifers; the lakes and ponds which used to exist in our towns/villages are being covered up by the builders in connivance with local authorities.