Harvest Every Drop: Building a Water-Wise Future | World Water Day | Sunita Narain

On this World Water Day, Sunita Narain reflects on one of the most urgent crises of our time: water security in the age of climate change. With El Niño bringing intense heat and disrupted monsoons, 2026 is set to be a particularly tough year for water. Extreme rain events mean more floods followed by deeper droughts, and our cities are caught in the middle, swinging between scarcity and flooding. India's ancient traditions of water harvesting offer us a powerful blueprint. Every region once had its own system built on a single principle: harvest rain when it falls. Today, that wisdom must be revived. Every house, every city, every lake and pond has a role to play in catching and storing water before it is lost. Being water-wise also means being waste-wise. Cities that take clean water from rivers and return polluted water are committing what can only be called a hydrocide. Treating every drop of sewage and turning it back into a usable resource is essential. Water is life. Let's secure it. Join this channel to get access to perks:    / @d2e   Down to Earth is Science and Environment fortnightly published by the Society for Environmental Communication, New Delhi. We publish news and analysis on issues that deal with sustainable development, which we scan through the eyes of science and environment.