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India's Depleting Groundwater Resources |
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The severe and ongoing depletion of underground water supplies in India poses a growing threat to the nation?s food security. Without serious efforts to stem the mining of groundwater, food production will decline, unleashing painful social and economic consequences for this nation of 1.25 billion people. All four of the world?s top irrigators – China, India, Pakistan and the United States – are pumping groundwater faster than it is being replenished in crucial crop-producing areas. But the problem is most serious in India, where 60 percent of irrigated farming depends on groundwater. Scientists have estimated that northern India, which includes the nation?s breadbasket of wheat and rice production, is depleting groundwater at a rate of 54 billion cubic meters per year, a volume that could support a subsistence-level diet for some 180 million people. More than 15 percent of India?s food is being produced by mining groundwater. In the southern state of Tamil Nadu, irrigated land has dropped by half over the last decade due to the depletion of groundwater, according to a new study by the International Water Management Institute (IWMI), based in Colombo, Sri Lanka, and published recently in the journal Water Resources Management. Some 95 percent of open wells in the state are dry. Tamil Nadu?s production of rice, bananas, groundnuts and other dietary staples is threatened, as are the livelihoods of the farmers who produce them.Without groundwater, the sector could collapse, wiping out the benefits of agricultural development achieved in recent years.? Groundwater depletion has long been a problem in India, driven by the availability of inexpensive motorized pumps and heavy subsidies for electricity and fuel. With flat rates for electricity, for example, the marginal cost of pumping additional water is effectively zero. As a result, farmers race to pump as much as they can before their neighbors get the last drop. Although the widespread drilling of groundwater wells helped spur the Green Revolution, the benefits of that revolution are now at risk as those wells run dry. As underground water levels drop, rivers and wetlands that depend on groundwater for base flows can dry up as well. Over the period 2002-2012, the research team found that farmers were pumping out 8 percent more water on average than was being replenished, causing water tables to drop at an average rate of 1.4 meters (4.6 feet) per year. Without strong regulations or economic incentives to slow the pumping, and active efforts to recharge the depleted aquifers, India faces a future of food insecurity and declining rural economies. Read More At: http://voices.nationalgeographic.com/2015/02/03/indias-food-security-threatened-by-groundwater-depletion/ Image Source: Meena Kadri/Wikimedia Commons |
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4 Comments
Water table is falling below sustainable levels.This problem should be addressed otherwise we will run out of groundwater sources.Even we can conserve water at our homes.Small steps can have a huge impacts.Thanks for the report.
Posted 25-08-2015 16:28
decrease in the ground water table has been a problm to all of us..in summer season it becomes very difficut to fetch water bcz of the lowered ground water table..and has created not only the problm of drinking water but also to the plants..shallow rooted plants results in decreased productivity..thanks for sharing :)
Posted 25-08-2015 10:03
Not only in India, globally the groundwater resources is depleting and it is alarming threat to all of us.
Unsustainable farming techniques is one the cause for this. Economic and rational use of water is a need of present.
Thank you for sharing the factful report dear Humaid :)
Posted 25-08-2015 00:55
India??s groundwater is being unsustainably exploited leading to severe decline in groundwater resources which is really alarming and a cause of worry. Farmers must be educated and trained to pump out just required water . India would not be able to meet its future demand unless it recharges its aquifers adequately and uses water more efficiently and judiciously. Water conservation should be promoted in a big way. Timely decisions must be made by responsible agencies to clear the future water outlook.Thanks for the report ,Humaid.
Posted 24-08-2015 22:35