Trickling down into India’s Water crisis

Water scarcity is turning into a crises, afflicting the human livelihood worldwide. A continuous over-exploitation of water resources has brought the world at the brink of this water crisis. The poor management of this crisis makes India highly vulnerable to risks as well. In a recent report that has brought this issue back on the discussion table published by NITI AAYOG- a government think tank, states that India, the largest extractor of groundwater, has been predicted to run out of groundwater in 21 cities including the metropolitans such as Bengaluru, Chennai and National capital Delhi etc. by 2020. Water crisis is bigger than ever, be it in terms of rise in conflicts surrounding water or reduction of water availability per capita due to the increasing population. Let’s tap a little deeper into the issue. 

A little bit more on the issue of the recently alarming fall in groundwater levels of India, increasing water demand and over dependence on groundwater for agriculture and other uses coupled with inter-alia lack of conscious water conservation makes the availability of groundwater extremely acute in the country, especially in summer months. Spatial and temporal variation of rainfall over the Indian terrain resulting in a weak monsoon for the past two consecutive years makes rainwater an incompetent method to suffice the groundwater recharge. The report ‘Composite Water Management Index’ (CWMI) released by NITI AAYOG points out that India, where 40% of the annually available surface water is used every yearandnearly 600 million Indians facing high-to-extreme water stress, an upsurge of water demand by 2050 would affect India’s water crisis status severely.[1] Lack of awareness and adequate technology will leave the Indian population grappling for water.

It was only a matter of time that the impending water stress becomes a predicament in India. India’s water demand is predominantly agriculture driven. An agrarian nation that it is, groundwater largely drives the water requirements of the agriculture sector. A spike in farmers using water for irrigation is also driven by subsidies inflicted by government through minimum support price that incentivizes water-incentive crops. Farming techniques haven’t been optimised fully and dependence on traditional irrigation techniques prevail in India, hence the water use is primarily wasteful in the sector and conservation of water is minimal. 

Water pollution is tangibly a concern for the water resources. Industrial discharge and its chemical release is having adverse effects on water bodies. The NITI Aayog report estimates that 70% of India’s water is contaminated. Such disquieting numbers compel us to think that water as a resource despite being abundant, is not being valued. 

So what is the road ahead? Is there a need for a paradigm shift to decentralised planning or should Indian citizens sit back until Central Government takes impactful initiatives? Only time will tell how things go about. Currently, the Union Government of India has imparted the charge for the issue to Jal Shakti (Water) Ministry, who have carved out glorious plans to make available clean water pipeline services in a time where millions in the country don’t have access to water at all. The ministry is also working on watershed development projects to utilise water resources, even though the impact and outreach of it remains unknown. 

Often poor management and planning of government is blamed in lieu of human activities that damage water resources. A blind eye is turned towards the water stress on the basis of the argument that water is a renewable resource. It is imperative to understand that the current state of water stress in the country is not the concern of a single community as all citizens are stakeholders of it. 

SOURCES:

[1]https://www.firstpost.com/tech/science/indias-water-crisis-bengaluru-delhi-chennai-hyderabad-among-21-cities-to-run-out-of-groundwater-by-2020-4590221.html

 [2] https://www.livemint.com/news/india/the-roots-of-india-s-deepening-rural-water-crisis-1564323444810.html