India most vulnerable to water stress among G20, says HSBC report

Among the G20 nations, India is most vulnerable to water stress and disruption of global water supplies driven by climate change, according to a report published on Wednesday by HSBC.

The report, which used data from the Food and Agriculture Organisation and the World Resource Institute, looks at both national usage and supply figures, as well as specific sub-national levels on water usage to capture a nation’s water “stress”.

While other nations have lower availability per capita at the moment (Saudi Arabia, South Africa and South Korea) it is usage that makes India particularly vulnerable, with the largest dependence on agriculture in the G20, and usage of around 25 per cent of all water used for agriculture globally. “By 2030, we estimate that water withdrawal for agriculture will have increased by 64 per cent but water availability per capita will have shrunk from 1,560 cubic metres to 1,287 cubic metres per capita, dangerously near the 1000 cubic metres per capita levels the UN determines as water scarce,” notes the report.

India currently has the highest rate of ground water abstraction in the G20 of 251 km3 per year – more than twice the second placed China.

While population growth forecasts for the next four decades would suggest that on its current trajectory world average fresh water per capita would still be plentiful at around 6,940 cubic metres per capita, climate change is disrupting patterns.

Past hydrological trends – on rainfall and evaporation – are no longer a good indicator of future availability. Water cycles are intensifying so that “dry regions are getting drier and wet areas are getting wetter.” Supply disruptions will happen at a local level.

HSBC argues that going forward the access and use of water will “increasingly become a differentiating factor for economic productivity and the ability of companies to operate.”

For India this will prove troublesome with the uncertainty over water impinging on economic productivity, and investors factoring in water risks.

“Changing water patterns are already revealing local vulnerabilities such as the forced closure of power, oil, gas and textile facilities this year,” it warns.

COMMENT NOW