Nation-wide high temperature has been heightening the protracted water shortage in Bengaluru, the capital city of India's southern Karnataka State, where residents have long been struggling with water crisis caused by urban expansion.
Facing an unbearable temperature of as high as 40 Celsius-degrees, the city's 13 million residents, who have already been battling with depletion of freshwater resources and heat waves, are now facing the possibility of deteriorating water crisis.
Official data showed that typically, water consumption in Bengaluru stands at 2.6 million tons per day and now there is a daily shortfall of 500,000 tons of water.
As temperature continues to rise, residents' demand for water increase significantly and in some residential areas, water is supplied only in certain time periods and is limited in amount.
"You can see the setup here. I have kept this filter waste bar, pipe in there, this 100-liter drum. So, this water, we use for home cleaning, washing utensils and all," said Kandi Chauhan, a resident.
Since March, water supply department in Bengaluru has put in place a mandatory measure to cut water supply of major water users in the city, except hospitals, by 20 percent. Consequently, businesses of local restaurants and pubs have been affected.
"With water, our business runs well, but without water, how can we do our business. We need water. No water, no business," said a restaurant owner, Manju Nath.
In some urban areas, where no water pipelines have been installed yet, water wagons are the only means left for local authorities to send water to residents. But the amount is not up to the demand, and the residents are allowed to get water two times a day only.
"Water wagons come two times a day only, and in my house, I do not have enough water in the water tank," said Ravinder, another resident.
According to reports of Indian media, underground water supports over half of the water consumption in Bengaluru. Over recent years, due to rapid urban expansion, about 7,000 of the city's 13,900 wells have gone dry.
Water shortage used to be an occasional trouble in Bengaluru, but now as impacts of climate change plummets the city's rainfall, it is now a crisis its residents have to face.
India's "Silicon Valley" suffers water crisis amid unbearable heat waves
India's "Silicon Valley" suffers water crisis amid unbearable heat waves
An average of nearly six homeless people died every day on the streets of Los Angeles, the United States' most populous county in 2022, according to a latest report by the County's Public Health Department.
For a second year in a row, the county had more than 2,200 people on the streets die in a single year, said the report released in May.
The report also shows a sharp spike in the mortality rates within the unhoused population over the past decade. The county's homeless population rose by 70 percent over the last decade, and their mortality rate doubled. But the number of drug overdoses, which continues to be the leading cause of death, has not seen a significant increase.
"It's not unexpected when you consider that the homeless population overall, especially the folks who are chronically homeless, they do represent more of an aging cohort. And so one could expect to see these kind of high rates, you know, unfortunately, you see preventable deaths from drug overdose," said Ben Henwood, professor of social work, University of Southern California.
For the sixth year in a row, drug and alcohol overdose continued to be the leading cause of death among unhoused people, accounting for 37 percent of all deaths in 2022.
"Yes, they are dying of drug related complications, but they're also dying of things like heart disease, and cancer and things that we treat with primary care and preventative medicine. So it just continues to highlight the need for us to go to the streets, deliver care where the people are, in their environment, where they feel most comfortable," said Brett Feldman, director for USC Street Medicine.
Feldman leads the street medicine team at the University of Southern California, providing basic yet potentially life-saving health care to those who would not have any access otherwise.
"[There is] very few resources, comparatively, are dedicated to street medicine. You know, we have a study that's currently under review that's showing, less than 7 percent have been seen by street medicine. Only about 3 percent are engaged in care for mental health. And so, that's a small percentage to expect to have a much larger impact. A lot of the focus, very appropriately, has been on housing," said Feldman.
But the city is far behind in building affordable housing that can accommodate everyone in need at a time when their numbers continue to rise along with their mortality rate.
Homeless mortality rate surging in Los Angeles mainly due to drug overdose: study
