The English poet Coleridge in his poem "The Rhyme of the Ancient Mariner" wrote: "Water, Water everywhere, but not a drop to drink" This is precisely the situation of the people living in large parts of India. Despite having immense reservoirs of water in the form of the Himalayas in the North and the Arabian sea, Indian Ocean and the Bay of Bengal in the West, South and East of India, there are water shortages everywhere often leading to riots, road blocks and other disturbances and disputes for getting water. In many cities, in many colonies people get water for half an houra day, and sometimes not even that e.g. in Delhi, Tamil Nadu, Rajasthan, U.P., Northeast, etc. In large parts of rural areas there isa shortage of water for irrigation and drinking purpose. Rivers in India are drying up, ground water is rapidlydepleting, and canals are polluted. The Yamuna in Delhi looks like a black drain. Several perennial rivers like the Ganga and Brahamputra are becoming seasonal. Rivers are dying or declining, and aquifers are getting over-pumped. Industries, hotels, etc are pumping out groundwater at an alarming rate, causing sharp decline in the groundwater levels. Farmers are having a hard time finding ground water for their crops e.g. in Punjab. In many places there are serpentine queues of exhausted housewives waiting for hours to fill their buckets of water.