This year's scorching summer heat in India adds new risks to an energy-sapping challenge that tribal woman Munni Adhivasi has faced every day for two decades, trudging for miles to bring home water. Munni, who said she was afraid of dying in the heat, sobbed as she lamented the government's failure to provide drinking water to more than 200 tribal families in her hamlet of Hinauti in northern Uttar Pradesh.
"All I can think about is how many trips I'll have to make to bring water for drinking and cooking for four children and three goats," said Munni, who carries home all 30 litres (8 gallons) of water her family and livestock require each day on her head.
However, this year's summer, which has been scorching even by Indian standards, with temperatures exceeding 40°C in many areas early in the season, adds to her woes the risk of dehydration and heatstroke.
"This water-collection drill is the worst form of punishment inflicted upon us," Munni, who did not know her exact age but appeared to be in her 30s, said.
She was one of a group of women and children from four villages in the area who draw water from their usual source, a reservoir next to a quarry where many of their husbands work every day.
Since late March, the heatwave has killed more than a dozen people across the country.
To accomplish this goal, it intends to construct desalination plants in coastal areas, capitalize on existing resources, and increase groundwater levels, which the government reported in 2019 had dropped 61% in the decade since 2007.
Munni, on the other hand, does not expect her ordeal to end soon. "Some water taps have been installed, but not a drop of water has ever trickled from them," she explained. As global temperatures rise, more water evaporates, resulting in higher levels of atmospheric water vapour and more frequent, heavy, and intense rains in the coming years.
