Srinagar, May 4 -- Kashmir is not short of water. It is short of awareness about its own water.

Across districts - from Budgam to Kupwara - decisions are being taken without answering three basic questions: how much water exists, how much is used, and how much is lost. The result is a predictable cycle - summer panic, emergency fixes, and long-term decline.

The bitter truth is Kashmir has schemes, but not systems.

Water governance in Kashmir operates without a baseline. There is no district-level accounting of supply versus demand, no annual balance sheet of water availability, and no mechanism to track deficits.

Without measurement, every intervention becomes guesswork. A water audit converts assumptions into data, and data into deci...