India faces a turbulent water future, says a World Bank report. Within the next 15 years, India’s water demand will exceed supply.
NEW DELHI: India faces a turbulent water future, says a World Bank report. Within the next 15 years, India’s demand for water will exceed all its sources of supply, it warns.
The report, India’s Water Economy: Bracing for a Turbulent Future, by John Briscoe, senior water adviser at the World Bank, examines the challenges facing India’s water sector and suggests measures to address them. It is based on 12 papers commissioned by the bank from prominent Indian practitioners and policy analysts.
“Unless water management practices are changed — and changed soon — India will face a severe water crisis within the next two decades,” the report says.
India’s large water infrastructure is crumbling and shortfalls in financing have led to an enormous backlog of maintenance. “The implicit philosophy has been aptly described as Build-Neglect-Rebuild. Much of what currently masquerades as ‘investment’ in irrigation or municipal water supply is, in fact, a belated attempt to rehabilitate crumbling infrastructure,” the report says.
It notes that most of India’s irrigation needs and its domestic water supplies come from groundwater. Though this practice has helped people to cope, it has led to rapidly declining water tables and is no longer sustainable.
A number of areas are already in crisis, among them the most populated and economically productive parts of the country, the report says. Government actions have worsened the problem.
Some 90 per cent of India’s territory is drained by inter-state rivers. The lack of clear allocation rules imposes high economic and environmental costs.
Sewage and waste water from rapidly growing cities have turned many rivers into smelly sewers. Climate change projections show that India’s water problems are only likely to worsen.
Urgent need for action
India’s dams can store only 200 cubic metres of water per person. Other middle-income countries like China, South Africa, and Mexico can store up to 1000
New infrastructure needs to be built, especially in underserved areas such as the water-rich Northeast
India has used only about 20 per cent of its hydropower potential, as compared to 80 per cent in developed countries
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