India is facing an unprecedented water crisis with nearly 50 per cent of the country grappling with severe drought. The situation has been particularly grim in the western and southern States, with visuals of women waiting hours together in long queues and scurrying to water tankers to get water becoming a regular feature in most of the television news channels.

In Chennai, which is facing a drought for the third year in a row and the worst in 75 years, the price of packaged water is reported to have gone up four times, desperate residents sink bore wells up to 600 feet, several restaurants have shut down operations and the IT companies have asked employees to work from home. It is not the usual water-shortage whine anymore. Severe water crisis has arrived far earlier than predicted.

Fast approaching dystopia

We have failed to read the warning on India’s water crisis that has been coming from different agencies for quite some time now.

The annual per capita availability of water continues to decline sharply from about 5,177 cubic metres in 1951 to about 1,720 cubic metres in 2019. NASA’s findings suggest that India’s water table is declining alarmingly at a rate of about 0.3 metres per year.

The Asian Development has forecast that by 2030, India will have a water deficit of about 50 per cent.

The World Bank in its latest report has underlined that the Ganga River Basin could see drinking water shortage go up as much as 39 per cent in some States by 2040. In its report on Composite Water Management Index, the NITI Aayog has highlighted that currently 600 million people face high to extreme water stress, about two lakh die every year due to inadequate access to safe water and about 70 per cent of water is contaminated. But, India is not a water scarce country. As per the estimates of the India Meteorological Department, the country receives an average rainfall of about 1,190 mm. Besides the major rivers, the country’s other major source of water is melting snow and glaciers from the Himalayan plateau, which feeds rivers in the north.

The water resources potential of the country as per the estimates of the Central Water Commission is about 1,869 BCM. A total storage capacity of about 305 BCM has been created in the country through major and medium irrigation projects.

The total annual replenishable groundwater potential of the country has been estimated to be about 433 BCM. The Standing Committee on Water Resources (2012-13) in its 16th report on “Repair, Renovation and Restoration of Water Bodies” has revealed that there are about 5.56 lakh tanks in the country which are traditional water bodies that help to capture, conserve and store what little rainfall the region receives. With such a robust backup and the world’s ninth largest freshwater reserves, why is India grappling with water woes?

Chronic mismanagement

India captures and uses only a fraction of its rainfall, allowing most of it to run off into the ocean. The country’s water supply infrastructure has failed completely to keep pace with the growth of the competing demands.

The inadequacy of the public systems to meet the ever-increasing demand has given rise to a massive informal water economy that is hard to regulate and control. In fact, the World Bank in its report on ‘The Challenge of Reducing Non-Revenue Water in Developing Countries’ (2006) had revealed that some 48 million cubic metres of drinkable water escape daily from official supply networks, enough to provide water for 200 million people.

According to the Standing Committee on Water Resources (2012-13), most of the water bodies have been encroached. Had the small water bodies not been subjected to centuries of neglect, then in years of high rainfall they would have protected against the risk of floods by allowing surplus rainwater flow into it while in years of low rainfall the stored water would have fulfilled the needs of all. When we ourselves have failed to upkeep such ancient water storage infrastructures, isn’t it high time to stop the climate-change blame game?

Meanwhile farmers have been reportedly overdrawing groundwater by keeping their pump sets switched on for long periods in fear that of power cuts that might interrupt the water flow. The agriculture sector alone accounts for about 85 per cent of all water use, mostly drawn from groundwater. According to the data published by the Ministry of Water Resources the annual groundwater draft is 243 BCM out of which 221 BCM is used for irrigation.

The road ahead

The clock is already ticking and given climate change, water crisis can get worse than anticipated if we do not take proactive measures now.

Rainwater harvesting can meet about 20 to 70 per cent of our daily water supply if serious efforts are taken in promoting it country-wide. Sewage treatment can go a long way to recharge groundwater level, improve the water supply and at the same time protect our water bodies from being contaminated and ensure safe drinking water.

People need to be sensitised about the judicious use of water. Cutting wastage of water in showers, toilets and sinks, which account for approximately 75 per cent of the water used in our daily lives, can go a long way in saving water.

A new legislation should be urgently enacted to make encroachments on water bodies a cognisable offence. Concerted efforts should also be taken towards adopting the age-old practice of kudimaramathu , wherein the users contribute labour for the upkeep and repair of water bodies, thereby instilling in them the responsibility of preserving the common property resource. This is already being revived in Tamil Nadu but needs to be popularised on a massive scale across the country.

Wherever the discharge of floodwater to sea is significant, check dams need to be constructed as they help in groundwater recharge and also preserve surface water.

Extensive adoption of micro irrigation in crops cultivation, volumetric supply and volumetric pricing should be implemented and promoted on a large scale in checking reckless exploitation of groundwater.

Instead of seeking expensive solutions to provide water for all, it is advisable to invest time and money on cost-effective measures which will definitely keep the water crisis at bay.

The writers are respectively former Member (Official), CACP, New Delhi, and Senior Assistant Professor in Economics, Vellore Institute of Technology.

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