The discourse on the challenges posed by unsustainable water use and its degradation across the globe continues to gather momentum with each passing year. The world has been inching closer to a debilitating water crisis and various water related statistics are evidence to it.

A 2018 report of the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands observed that up to 87 per cent of the global wetland resources has been lost since 1700. According to NASA satellite data, almost half of the earth’s 37 largest aquifers are running out too fast to be replenished and an additional 13 are declining at a faster rate.

With water running out, the world may have to confront a series of associated problems — food insecurity, heat waves, deteriorating sanitation and regional conflicts over water access.

According to the UN World Water Development Report, 2023, India is expected to face severe water scarcity by 2050. The World Bank in a report in 2023, too has reiterated the same.

A NITI Aayog report on Composite Water Management Index (CWMI) in 2019, underlined that around 820 million people in 12 major river basins of India are facing high to extreme water situation, about 163 million live without access to clean water close to their homes and about 70 per cent of India’s surface water is contaminated.

The country’s average per capita water availability, which is already low enough for India to be categorised as water stressed, is expected to reduce further to 1341m3 by 2025 and 1140m3 by 2050, close to the official water scarcity threshold. Climate change is likely to exacerbate the issue.

But India’s water scarcity is primarily due to poor management of water resources and not due to climate change.

The NITI Aayog report highlighted that the impact of poor water management is already so severe that it has led to desertification and land degradation by about 30 per cent. It’s time for the country to focus on water management.

Need for water budget

Kerala became the first State to approve a Water Budget on April 17, 2023 in an effort to address water scarcity in certain areas.

Prepared by the Centre for Water Resource Development Management and the State Water Department, the Water Budget gives data about the availability of water at a particular place and its consumption based on the population in the region.

The timely Water Budget is important as it serves as a template to conduct this kind of audit, which is essential for building resilience against climate change.

Given that the country is home to about 24,24,540 water bodies, per the First Census Report on Water Bodies, 2023, not just Kerala but every State needs a water budget.

The NITI Aayog report stated that about 21 States will soon run out of groundwater. In the last decade alone, devastating floods in Mumbai, Kashmir Ahmedabad, Uttarakhand, Hyderabad, Kolkata, Bengaluru and Surat showed how most urban centres fail to manage their drainage channels. In the process of building a smart city most of the major cities in India have either completely neglected or have encroached upon the natural reservoirs indiscriminately.

Cost effective solutions

Given the observation of the First Census Report on Water Bodies, 2023 that it is the ponds and tanks that have been largely encroached in the country, a rethinking on the approach towards water bodies is needed. The key to resolving both water scarcity and flooding lies in reviving these cost-effective small water bodies and increase the capacity to store more water, given the climate experts’ prediction that there will be fewer but more intense rainy days, increasing the chances of flooding.

Reviving the centuries-old practice of community management of small water bodies, ‘Kudimaramathu,’ a renewed thrust on rain water harvesting and stringent action against encroachments on natural reservoirs are a few of the important measures that needs to be carried out on a massive scale across the country. Parks, amusement places and large development areas must have ponds and a sizeable retention area which will in turn recharge the aquifers.

To save every drop of the floodwater that goes waste, construction of check dams and anicuts across rivers will help preserve surface water for use both during and after the monsoon. Gujarat has saved water and improved its groundwater level considerably, due to the construction of check dams.

It is high time that the country emulates Singapore which recycles 40 per cent of its water requirements. Smart agriculture scaffolded by technology can reduce need for water and induce climate resilience. Given that water security is critical for national security, India can scarcely afford to waste water.

The writer teaches economics at the Business School - Vellore Institute of Technology (VIT-BS), Chennai. Views expressed are personal

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