Rising Sea Levels Mean Daily Water Struggle on India Shore

Rising Sea Levels Mean Daily Water Struggle on India Shore

Changing sea levels are affecting freshwater in places like Chellanam, India.

In Chellanam, saltwater is moving inland into small bodies of fresh water, like ponds and wells, which the village's 600 families use for drinking, bathing and daily jobs. Chellanam is near the city of Kochi on the Arabian Sea on India's southwestern coast.

The water around Chellanam became too salty to drink 60 years ago. It is now unusable even for cleaning clothes. Anthony Kuttappassera's family has lived in the same house near the coast for over 100 years. He grew up drinking water from a pond and a well outside of his home. Now the pond is almost dry, just like all of the other ones in Chellanam.

A man travels to help people get clean water in Kochi, Kerala state, India, on March 1, 2023. Saltwater's intrusion into freshwater means residents¹ can no longer depend on ponds and wells for the water they need to drink, cook and wash. (Uzmi Athar/Press Trust of India via AP)

A man travels to help people get clean water in Kochi, Kerala state, India, on March 1, 2023. Saltwater's intrusion into freshwater means residents can no longer depend on ponds and wells for the water they need to drink, cook and wash. (Uzmi Athar/Press Trust of India via AP)

Mustapas're is now 73 years. He said when the pond was usable, there was no problem. They had everything they needed, but now they, "are using packed water for everything...We are surrounded by water, but we do not have any consumable water."

There are water pipes that bring fresh water, but they leak or break a lot. That means trucks must carry water to the village. Each truck load of water must be poured into containers and then carried by hand into the village. The most recent water outage lasted about a month.

Saltwater invasion² of groundwater is a problem around the world. Wealthy countries can deal with the problem more easily, but developing nations, like India, have problems.

Scientists say that ocean levels around the world are rising. They say changing ocean patterns, extreme storms, and too much water use, add to the salinity³ problem in the Kochi area. This combines with limited freshwater in Indian to create a bigger problem. The United Nations children's agency⁴, UNICEF, said less than half of India's population has clean drinking water.

S. Sreekesh is a professor at Jawaharlal Nehru University. He studied sea level rise in the Kochi area using measurements⁵ of tides, satellite data and other information. He said the sea level is rising at a rate of 1.8 millimeters⁶ a year.

Bijoy Nandan is the dean⁷ of marine⁸ sciences at Cochin University of Science and Technology. He said that salinity has increased by over 30 percent since the first water studies of the area in 1971.

"People are suffering because the aquifers⁹ are getting salinized," he said.

Maryamma Pillai is 82 years old. Sometimes she needs to buy water. It costs her almost $0.50 for five liters¹⁰. She has no water at home, and it is hard for her to carry back from the government trucks.

Pillai said that every year gets worse as the summers become hotter.

"This was not the case earlier when we used to know how to plan for (each) season with more water availability but now everything is unknown, unpredictable and unreliable," she said.

Other people travel by boat to other neighborhoods to get water because they live too far from the main road. Karni Kumar used a wooden boat to go to Alappuzha, a neighboring city, to get fresh water. But many other Chellanam villagers also go there causing high demand for water supplies, long waits and even conflicts with people in Alappuzha.

The Reverend John Kalathil is a leader of the St. George Church in South Chellanam. He said that residents have to pay $1.21 to $2.42, per day for their water. This is around 15 percent of their daily income.

Most income-earners at his church are fisherman. They love the sea and have a deep connection with it.

"They call it ‘Kadalamma,' which means they look at (the) sea as their mother," Reverend Kalathil said, "But the situation is very terrible for them because of climate change, weather, change in sea and water sources."

Words in This Story

pond –n. a small body of water

well – n. a source of ground water for drinking

consumable– adj. able to be eaten or drank

outage – n. a period of failure or interruption¹¹ of use

pattern – n. a happening that takes place regularly in a predictable way

salinity – n. the salt content of water

tide – v. the natural rising and falling of the surface of the ocean and of large water bodies

aquifers – n. a water-bearing layer of rock, sand, or gravel¹² underneath¹³ the ground

unreliable – adj. not dependable

1 residents   

n.居民( resident的名词复数 )；（旅馆的）住宿者

参考例句：

• Plans to build a new mall were deep-sixed after protests from local residents. 修建新室内购物中心的计划由于当地居民反对而搁浅。
• Local residents have reacted angrily to the news. 当地居民对这一消息表示愤怒。

2 invasion   

n.入侵，侵略，侵犯

参考例句：

• They are ready against the possible invasion.他们防备可能的入侵。
• It is our duty to shield our country from invasion.保卫祖国不受侵犯是我们的责任。

3 salinity   

n.盐分；咸度；盐浓度；咸性

参考例句：

• In the sea water sampled the salinity is two parts per thousand.在取样的海水中，盐度为千分之二。
• In many sedimentary basins the salinity of the formation water increases with depth or compaction.在许多沉积盆地中，地层水的含盐量随深度或压实作用而增高。

4 agency   

n.经办；代理；代理处

参考例句：

• This disease is spread through the agency of insects.这种疾病是通过昆虫媒介传播的。
• He spoke in the person of Xinhua News Agency.他代表新华社讲话。

5 measurements   

n.量度( measurement的名词复数 )；测量；衡量；（量得的）尺寸

参考例句：

• The second group of measurements had a high correlation with the first. 第二组测量数据与第一组高度相关。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• In the metric system, measurements are made in metres and liters. 在公制中，用米和升作计量单位。 来自《简明英汉词典》

6 millimeters   

n.毫米( millimeter的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The creature is a tiny centipede, just 10 millimeters long. 那个生物是一只很小的蜈蚣，只有10毫米长。 来自辞典例句
• This machine part was built to a tolerance of 0.01 millimeters. 这一机器部件的制造公差是0.01毫米。 来自辞典例句

7 Dean   

n.(大学)院长，系主任，教务长

参考例句：

• The students much like the new dean.学生们很喜欢这位新系主任。
• Who is the dean of the Foreign Languages Department?外语系主任是谁？

8 marine   

adj.海的；海生的；航海的；海事的；n.水兵

参考例句：

• Marine creatures are those which live in the sea. 海洋生物是生存在海里的生物。
• When the war broke out,he volunteered for the Marine Corps.战争爆发时，他自愿参加了海军陆战队。

9 aquifers   

n.地下蓄水层，砂石含水层( aquifer的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• And in Africa, the aquifers barely recharge at all. 非洲的地下水开采以后几乎得不到补充。 来自时文部分
• Aquifers have water contents over 30%. 含水层的水含过30％。 来自辞典例句

10 liters   

n.升( liter的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• In the metric system, measurements are made in metres and liters. 在公制中，用米和升作计量单位。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• This can holds five liters of water. 这个容器可装五升水。 来自《简明英汉词典》

11 interruption   

n.打扰；干扰；中止；阻碍

参考例句：

• Never mind the interruption;proceed with your story.不要理睬别人的插话，继续讲你的故事。
• The day passed by without further interruption.这一天过去了，没有再发生什么意外的事。

12 gravel   

n.砂跞；砂砾层；结石

参考例句：

• We bought six bags of gravel for the garden path.我们购买了六袋碎石用来铺花园的小路。
• More gravel is needed to fill the hollow in the drive.需要更多的砾石来填平车道上的坑洼。

13 underneath   

adj.在...下面，在...底下；adv.在下面

参考例句：

• Working underneath the car is always a messy job.在汽车底下工作是件脏活。
• She wore a coat with a dress underneath.她穿着一件大衣，里面套着一条连衣裙。