When Less Is Life-Threatening

Increasing water scarcity in India could potentially turn into an irreversible crisis that can affect many lives if immediate steps are not taken

- Avishek Banerjee & Prabodh Krishna

WATER, LIKE AIR, IS INDISPENSABLE for life. Any threat to it, is a threat to human existence. Today India, like many other countries such as Brazil, China, Iran, South Africa, is facing a serious water crisis that can endanger the lives of its people. While we may not go completely waterless, what is already happening and is likely to happen in the long term, is that our demand for water will far exceed its supply, if adequate steps are not taken.

Recently, government think tank NITI Aayog, chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, released a study that claims that India is facing its worst long-term water crisis in history. According to the findings of the study, demand for potable water will outstrip supply by 2030 if immediate steps are not taken. The report also features a Composite Water Index that shows nearly 600 million Indians faced high to extreme water shortage in 2018 and about 200,000 people died during the year due to inadequate access to safe water.

The study further notes that 70 per cent of the available water is contaminated and that 21 major cities including Delhi, Bangalore, Chennai and Hyderabad will run out of groundwater by 2020, affecting 100 million people. “If matters are to continue, there will be a 6 per cent loss in the country’s gross domestic product by 2050... Critical groundwater resources that account for 40 per cent of India’s water supply are being depleted at unsustainable rates,” the report said, calling for an immediate push towards sustainable management of water resources.