Spotlight

New Delhi, 7 April 2007

INDIA FACES ACUTE WATER PROBLEM

NEW DELHI, April 8 (INFA): With its fragile and finite water resources, India is presently facing an acute water problem, according to UNews of the UN Information Centre here. The resources are not just depleting rapidly, different sectoral demands are growing swiftly.

Water in general, is being seen by its use i.e. water for drinking, for industry, for irrigation and for the environment. It is, as if, all these are competing and not an inherent part of maintaining the whole ecological system and complementing each other for sustainable development. 

There are also those who look at the administrative boundaries as the basis of decision making when these seldom conform to the catchments and basin areas that nature prescribes as the management units for water.

A holistic, systematic approach relying on integrated water resource management must replace the current fragmentation in managing water.  As sustainable development interlinks both the quality and quantity aspects of water management, we should not overlook the fact that water is affected by everything, and water affects everything and everyone, says the Newsletter.

There is no doubt that water and sustainable development are inextricably linked. Without adequate supplies and management of water resources, socio-economic development would be constrained.

Though about 90 per cent of the rural population has been provided with drinking water facilities, there are major issues due to the lack of equitable distribution of water, water quality issues, highly unaccountable flow of water, lack of proper operation and maintenance, and a weak monitoring and surveillance mechanism. About 85 per cent of the rural population in India is solely dependent on ground water, which is depleting at a fast rate. Those who are dependent on surface water sources are also not better off, as the availability and quality are of a questionable nature.

In 1947, the annual per capita water resources availability was measured at 5,150 capita cubic metres. By the year 2000, that had decreased to about 2,200.  It has been recently estimated that by 2017, India will be “water stressed” – annual per capita availability will decline to 1600 cubic metres. 

Rapid population growth in the country will result in a further decline in the per capita availability of freshwater: Studies undertaken show that the amount of available aggregate annual utilizable water in India, surface and ground together, would be at about 1,100 BCM (billion cubic meter).

Other problem areas are the fast-growing urban centres, where water requirements are expected to double by 2025. The situation concerning industrial supplies is even more difficult to analyse.

A serious freshwater crisis awaits further generation sin India and their natural environment.  The crisis will not be due to the lack of freshwater as such, but the availability of adequate quality of water at the right places, and the required quantity to meet basic needs. Many freshwater ecosystems are also fast degrading in quality and quantity. ---INFA