The Hindu : India will face major water crisis: study

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Apr 23, 2003

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India will face major water crisis: study

By Our Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI APRIL 22. A study brought out by the Planning Commission has warned that as India progresses on the path of reforms and growth, the country will face a major water crisis despite the rich annual rainfall and total water resources.

Sponsored by the World Health Organisation and the United Nations Children's Fund, the Planning Commission study found that India's finite and fragile water resources were stressed and depleting while sectoral demands (including drinking water, industry, agriculture and others) were growing rapidly in line with urbanisation, population increases, rising incomes and industrial growth.

"In an era of economic reforms, liberalisation and globalisation, cities and towns are fast emerging as centres of growth. In fact, estimates reveal that urban India contributes more than 50 per cent of the country's gross domestic product at present, although it accounts for less than one-third of its population. It is estimated that by 2025, more than 50 per cent of the country's population will live in cities and towns,'' the study says.

While these figures are indicative of the likely demand for infrastructural facilities, notably water supply and sanitation that could arise due to urbanisation, more importantly, the first areas likely to be adversely affected in terms of water availability would be the rural areas around major centres of urban growth.

According to the study, India receives an average annual rainfall equivalent of about 4,000 billion cubic metres (BCM).

This source of water is unevenly distributed both spatially as well as temporally. Most of the rainfall is confined to the monsoon season from June to September and levels of precipitation vary from 100 mm. a year in western Rajasthan to over 9,000 mm. a year in northeastern Meghalaya.

With 3,000 BCM of rainfall concentrated over the four monsoon months and the other 1,000 mm. spread over the remaining eight months, India's rivers carry 90 per cent of the water during June-November and only 10 per cent of the river flow is available during the other six months. The study points out that national-level statistics for water availability mask huge disparities from basin to basin and region to region.

Spatially, the utilisable resource availability in the country varies from 18,417 cubic metres in the Brahmaputra valley to as low as 180 cubic metres in the Sabarmati basin. Rajasthan, for instance, with eight per cent of the country's population has only one per cent of the country's water resources, while Bihar with 10 per cent of the population has just five per cent of the water resources.

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