India’s looming Water Crisis
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
June 24, 2019
With major metros facing a severe water crisis, India is staring at a looming water crisis. Here is an overview of the crisis we face.
Union minister forthe newly formed Jal Shakti Ministry, has recently stated that the watershortage being faced by India is a media hype. This is oneof the many statements given by political leaders across the spectrum withinthe central and state governments, which play downs water crisis in thecountry.
But what do thenumbers have to say about this? Have we reached a crisis situation?
The NITI
Aayog’s report
The NITIAayog’s Water Index
Report, released in June 2018 agrees with the potential threat we face withregards to water availability in India.  Inthe executive
summary and background of the report, the report states that :
These numbers dopresent a grim picture, pointing towards India’s looming water crisis.
Depletion of
water resources
Thegeographical diversity that India has, is also reflected in Indian watersystems. The North and North East regions of India have access to rivers fed bythe Himalayan glaciers and are considered as perennial rivers.
On the otherhand, peninsular India has rivers which are dependent on monsoon rains. Anydelay or less rainfall has a direct impact on the available water resources.This is where ground water acts as a buffer for variable monsoons.
A World Bank
report of 2012, states that India uses approximately 230 cubic KM of groundwater, which happens to be 1/4 of the global ground water utilization.
The reportfurther states that nearly 60% of the irrigation and 80% of the drinking waterrequirements in India are met through ground water.  Over the years, the dependence of irrigationon ground water has increased, which is evident from the rise in the
share of tube wells as a source of Irrigation, when compared to canals and tanks. The unpredictable& variable monsoons over the years has further increased the dependence onground water.
Apart fromirrigation, there is an increase in the
dependence on ground water for drinking water purpose rather than on the othersurface water alternatives. Government’s inability to supply water from therivers has increased the use of ground water as a drinking source.
One out of
every six assessed ground water units is over exploited
This excess dependence& utilization is fast resulting in the depletion of ground water resources.The rate of depletion of nearly 28% of ground water
units is more than the rate of replenishing them as per a report of theCentral Ground Water Board (CGWB).
As per thelatest assessment of ‘Dynamic Ground Water
Resources (2013)’, released in the year 2017, about 30% of the assessment units are inthe semi-critical to over exploited category. The assessment categories arebased on the following criteria.
Out of the 6584units assessed, 68.65% were found to be safe, 15.7% over exploited, 10.34% semicritical and 3.84% critical. Overall, close to 30% of the units were found tobe in the range of semi critical to over exploited. The over exploitedassessment units have increased from 14% in2009 to 16% in 2013.
Most of the overexploited and
critical units were concentrated in three parts of the country;
Contamination
of available water resources
Apart from the depleting water resources, the availability of non-contaminated water for usage is major issue contributing to the water crisis in India.
NITI Aayog’s report in 2018 with regards to water management, states that the total water resource (Surface water + Ground water) available in India is 1,869 billion cubic meters (bcm) of which only 690 bcm water is usable, since rest of the water is contaminated.
India is ranked120 among 122 countries in respect to water quality. The problem of watercontamination is spread across both the ground water and surface waterresources in India.  Ground water as well as surface water (rivers,lakes) etc. are effected by various forms of pollutants as per various reportsof CGWB and the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB).
Industrialwastage, sewage, fertilizers etc. are few of the common sources which contaminatewater in India. Fluoride, Arsenic, Nitrate etc. are few of the chemicals whosepresence is creating health problems in India. Especially fluorosis has beenrampant in many districts across different states. More than 10 million
people are still affected by fluoride in drinking water as per government dataas of December 2017.
Are we staring
at a Drought this year?
As per the Drought Early
Warning Systems (DEWS) , nearly 44 % of India are under drought conditions (Abnormallydry to exceptional dry).  The major shiftis observed in ‘exceptional dry areas’, which is currently is at 4.80% comparedto 0.68% around the same time last year (Data from DEWS as of 19 June, 2019)
As per the data from IMD, India has witnessed the second driest pre-monsoon season in the last 65 years with 99 millimetres of rainfall during March’2019-May’2019.
Also, as perrecent bulletin by CentralWater Commission (CWC), 71 of 91 reservoirs across India have recorded adownward shift in the water levels.
As per thereport by  NITI Aayog, 21 Majorcities of India will run dry by 2020. We are currently witnessing this situationin Chennai, with New Delhi also predictedto be having very less ground water reserves.
A holistic
action plan for long term solutions is the only way forward.
The watercrisis and drought situation in India is built up over the years. The lack ofgood monsoons across the decades have increased the reliance on ground water,but its injudicious use has complicated the situation.
India has hadphases of less rainfall during monsoons, but we survived those phases due tothe available water resources. The depleted water resources have now removedthat buffer and any variance in rainfall is resulting in a major deficit.
The inabilityto store rainfall, due to improper sanitation infrastructure also aggravatedthe situation.  The contamination of thewaterbodies has further reduced the amount of usable water. All these havecompounded to the larger problem on hand.
Creating a Composite Water Management Index is a step in the right direction, which would enable to have reliable data and monitoring mechanism on water resource management. Any steps taken by the government need to focus on each of these problem to be able to manage the future demand of water.
Featured Image: Water Crisis in India