Our community in Hyderabad is facing a severe water problem. Not only Hyderabad, but it may also be a nationwide phenomenon because of the severe drought conditions across some regions. With country staring at possibly longer heatwave spell, the situation might worsen. However today we stand at a crucial crossroads -- to survive using judiciousness or perish due to ignorance and recklessness. The current water crisis which has only been aggravated due to this unrelenting summer must have forced number of people to leave their homes, abandon their cattle and sheep since they do not have water to provide for them. My neighbour working for a software company has told me that their counterparts in Chennai, are given work from home facility because the employers do not have enough water to sustain operations. And some other firms have asked the employees to bring their own drinking water since employers cannot guarantee drinking water during the working hours. Surprisingly, when I was searching for some other details on this, I have come across some startling revelations, which might jolt one into action. It is mentioned that by the end of May, 43% of India was experiencing drought conditions. Furthermore, the country had witnessed a drought every year since 2015 (other than 2017). In terms of groundwater, the situation is even grim according to a report. The groundwater which serves 40%of India’s needs, is being depleted at a frightening unsustainable rate. The 2018 report of NITI-AYOG says that 21 Indian cities including Delhi, Bangalore, Chennai, and Hyderabad will run out of groundwater by 2020 and that 40% of India’s population will have no access to drinking water, by 2030. The year 2030 is less than 11 years away. This means that in little more than a decade, more than one in three people in the country will not have access to drinking water. To bring this point closer home, it’s likely that only two or three of us will essentially have access to drinking water by 2030. This is all due to the cumulative effect of poor water management and climate change. Meanwhile, the underground water has severely depleted in several regions creating an acute water shortage. The way forward is to introduce irrigation reforms, rejuvenation of rivers and well-planned transparency in urban water management to augment resources for sewerage and waste water treatment are essential. A comprehensive water policy that focuses on reusing waste water is the need hour. And another most important step would be increasing vegetation in urban and rural areas is a must (for better rainfall and better air quality etc).