"Nobody knows exactly when the truck will arrive. Its schedule varies. But when it pulls up — sometime in the morning and then again after dusk — it's often the neighborhood children, playing cricket in the street, who are first to sound the alarm.

"Tanker! Tanker!" the children yell in unison, alerting their neighbors to a precious delivery from the Indian government: water.

The neighbors all drop what they're doing, grab jerrycans and buckets and get in line. They need to collect enough water for all their washing, cooking and drinking. Sometimes brawls break out.

This scene, in a New Delhi slum, has been repeated this spring and summer across India, where heat waves and water shortages have left millions desperate. Many reservoirs have dried up. As temperatures top 120 degrees Fahrenheit, municipalities are delivering water by tanker. Hospitals report a spike in heat-related deaths. Asphalt roads melt."

Lauren Frayer reports for NPR July 2, 2019. [2]