Water Footprint and Stewardship: Narratives from the Sharda Basin

Communities in the Sharda basin, in Uttar Pradesh, are demanding quick and inclusive intervention from the government to address the pertinent water related issues impacting their everyday life. The ecology of the Sharda river and its auxiliary channels like the ‘Sootea Nala’ is severely disrupted due to the industrial contamination by the leading sugar mills in the region. This is a likely prominent contributory factor impacting the quality of drinking water in the areas surrounding the region because of the unsustainable and non-participatory manner of waste governance by the factories located in the region. Among the most impacted are women who have been traditionally entrusted with the responsibility of household management including the fetching of drinking water for the family. Their limited participation in issues related to water contamination in Palia Kalan has excluded them from decision-making on critical water issues in the area thwarting the possibility of an inclusive and just community-based water governance.