In the city of Pune in western India local governments are cracking down on organization of traditional “rain dance” celebrations that take place along with the annual Holi festival. The tradition requires the heavy use of water resources purely for entertainment, in a process where participants “dance” under huge open showers to wash off the excess colored die that is thrown during Holi. In a region crippled with shortages of clean drinking water, such events this time of year are being met with harsh backlash from the public and as a result the local government has stepped in to mediate. Rain dances this year may only take place if the water is 100% recycled and being used scarcely, seeing as perfectly good drinking water should not flow so plentifully down the drain in Pune.

In terms of normalization and conservation I believe that this step is a great sign for Pune and other regions with immediate water challenges in the world. It seems just that the people of the public should be the first to call out others who use precious resources irresponsibly, and that with the help of a local government that understands the needs of the people a compromise can be made. On top of that the fact that they could get people to shower in recycled water so freely is astounding to me, here in the United States we are leaps and bounds away from getting the public to even look at recycled water, let alone bathe in it. This type of conflict and mediation is very surely a precursor to major water conflicts in the future, in places very much like India the public will have to start making compromises about water use, recycled or not.

Service, E. N. (2017, March 12). At Holi parties: Confusion over ‘rain dance’ events. Retrieved March 11, 2017, from http://indianexpress.com/article/cities/pune/at-holi-parties-confusion-over-rain-dance-events-4566103/