Towards A Dry Future

If mismanagement of water sources is not checked, water stress may grow several folds severely impacting India’s population, environment and economy

- Gyan Pathak

India needs to manage water for a 17 percent population of the world but has only 4 percent of the world’s freshwater resources. Though annual utilizable water is 690 BCM from surface water sources and 447 BCM from groundwater, water supply is so mismanaged that about two lakh people die every year due to inadequate water, sanitation, and hygiene. The burden of unsafe water on an individual is 40 times higher than in China and 12 times higher than even Sri Lanka. With a huge amount of wastewater generated annually, mismanagement of wastewater contaminating both surface and groundwater, lack of liquid waste management, poor sanitation conditions and habits contributed a significant portion of the population suffering from waterborne diseases.

All these have been revealed in the Composite Water Management Index of India released recently by NITI Aayog in association with the newly created Ministry of Jalshakti and the Ministry of Rural Development. In spite of possessing surface water, the country is highly dependent on groundwater resources for day to day survival. India is, therefore, facing the challenge to fulfill its demand through the existing but depleting resources.

The increased scarcity of water is affecting the broad spectrum of economic, social and developmental activities of the nation. It not only affects GDP directly in the form of loss of productivity of agriculture, industrial and service sectors but also decreases the ability of the nation. The impact of water scarcity is already being severely felt in some regions, and if states and UTs fail to control the situation, it is only going to deteriorate.