WAteR:"Water crisis India’s rural-urban rift"

WITH 17 PERCENT of the world's population but just 4 percent of its fresh water, India is struggling with a water crisis that has gripped the entire country. As the population of 1.1 billion people grows -- by 18 million a year -- the situation is only expected to worsen.

The vast majority of water in India is used for agriculture, but increasing migration to cities and towns and rapid industrialization is creating new needs. The World Bank projects household water use in urban areas to double by 2025, and industrial use to triple.

The distribution of water is becoming a zero-sum game between cities and the countryside that surrounds them, "The demand for water has become so great in cities that the only available option is to start tapping agricultural areas," Might in future lead to potential "small civil wars" over water between urban users, farmers and industry.

"There will be constant competition over water, between farming families and urban dwellers, environmental conservationists and industrialists, minorities living off natural resources and entrepreneurs seeking to commodify the resources base for commercial gain"

-UNICEF report on Indian water.

More than two billion people worldwide live in regions facing water scarcity and in India this is a particularly acute crisis. Millions of Indians currently lack access to clean drinking water, and the situation is only getting worse. India’s demand for water is growing at an alarming rate. India currently has the world’s second largest population, which is expected to overtakeChina’s by 2050 when it reaches a staggering 1.6 billion, putting increase strain on water resources as the number of people grows. A rapidly growing economy and a large agricultural sector stretch India’s supply of water even thinner. Meanwhile, India’s supply of water is rapidly dwindling due primarily to mismanagement of water resources, although over-pumping and pollution are also significant contributors. Climate change is expected to exacerbate the problem by causing erratic and unpredictable weather, which could drastically diminish the supply of water coming from rainfall and glaciers. As demand for potable water starts to outstrip supply by increasing amounts in coming years, India will face a slew of subsequent problems, such as food shortages, intrastate, and international conflict.

Figure 3: Utilizable water, demand, and available water

India is facing a looming water crisis that has implications not only for its 1.1 billion people, but for the entire globe. India’s demand for water is growing even as it stretches its supplies. Water infrastructure is crumbling, preventing the government from being able to supply drinking water to its citizens. Pollution is rampant due to unfettered economic growth, poor waste management laws and practices. Although many analysts believe that demand will outstrip supply by 2020, there is still hope for India. Water scarcity in India is predominantly a manmade problem; therefore if India makes significant changes in the way it thinks about water and manages its resources soon, it could ward off, or at least mollify, the impending crisis. 

If the country continues with a business as usual mentality the consequences will be drastic. India will see a sharp decrease in agricultural production, which will negate all of the previous efforts at food security. India will become a net importer of grain, which will have a huge effect of global food prices, as well as the global supply of food. A rise in food prices will aggravate the already widespread poverty when people have to spend larger portions of their income on food. In addition to devastating the agricultural sector of India’s economy, the water crisis will have a big effect on India’s industrial sector, possibly stagnating many industries. Finally, India could become the stage for major international water wars because so many rivers that originate in India supply water to other countries. India has the power to avoid this dark future if people take action immediately: start conserving water, begin to harvest rainwater, treat human, agricultural, and industrial waste effectively, and regulate how much water can be drawn out of the ground.

Water-scarce India, too, weighs a return to ancient practices

In parts of India, the sophistication of a person could traditionally be judged by the number of empty pits in his, or her, village. The pits were dug to catch and store the monsoon. The more pits, the more advanced the village. Owning them was a sign of having tamed the rains. Monsoon pits have all but disappeared from India's cities now, and are falling into disrepair in the countryside, abandoned in a decades-long shift from local water management to a centralized government effort to smooth the lush but fickle rains into a steadier, more equitable source of livelihood.

 "We need to stop looking at the government for the solution. We need to do what we can, and do it locally."

Water is increasingly becoming a scarce commodity in India. It can no longer be considered a gift of the gods, but needs to be harvested, conserved and utilized in the most appropriate manner rather than just constructing gigantic dams which not only dislocate existing habitations but ( floods and other environmental problems, India needs to focus its efforts on developing and re\-indigenous water technologies. Traditional water harvesting systems exist all over India but serving India for several millennia; they are dying a slow death.