Gospel for Asia has been on a roll with press releases claiming to help India’s poor. The most recent one touts their efforts to ease a water crisis in the state of Delhi. The crisis has been exacerbated by political protests.
Gospel for Asia (GFA)-supported workers delivered nearly 4,000 gallons of water this week on World Water Day (March 22) to stricken residents of three areas in Delhi, hard-hit by a disruption in the city’s main supply source caused by a political protest.
Water was distributed to more than 1,000 people in three Delhi neighborhoods, with each household receiving two to 13 gallons. Residents there have suffered from severe water shortages, requiring residents to buy water daily until recently.
Perhaps 4,000 gallons sounds like a lot, but it is just a drop in a very large bucket.
According to a CNN report, it would take millions of gallons to make an impact.
As of Tuesday evening, the government had restored 80 million of the 580 million gallons that flow from the damaged canal daily. It is not clear when Delhi’s water supply will return to normal.
It costs about a dollar a gallon for commercially available bottled water in Delhi, so GFA’s big investment in the water crisis could have cost them a little over $4000.00 at most.
However, it was probably much less than that. According to the press release, GFA used tankers to bring in the water.
“We sent in tanker trucks to help those with life-threatening needs,” said K.P. Yohannan, founder and international director of GFA.
In 2012, one could rent a tanker which carries about the same amount of water GFA gave away for around $30. The same amount in the Fall of 2015 might go for as high as $50. The most recent source I found (last month) said tanker trucks providing the amount described by the press release could be secured for just over $60 (4000 rupees for 12000 liters).
Given the source of the press release, it probably took more money to pay for the publication of the release than it took to provide the water.
Even if the cost was around $4000, that is about 4 times what little Sayaan Ali needed to get life saving medical care and a whole lot less than the $74 million sitting in Indian banks from foreign contributors.