Policy Issue: Water Crisis

Recently, PM Narendra Modi promised that clean drinking water will reach every Indian household
through pipes by 2024. At the same time, NITI Aayog released a report highlighting the acute water-
crisis the country has ever faced, which warns that twenty-one cities including the capital will run out of
groundwater by 2020.

Current Situation

The report warns that 21 cities including the capital New Delhi are likely to run out of groundwater by
2020, nearly 40% of the population will have absolutely no access to drinking water by 2030. India’s
sixth largest city, Chennai has already ran out of water recently and forcing people living in rural areas to
leave their lands in search of fresh water. Amidst the acute water crisis the country is facing, it’s also
staring at major economic and developmental challenges. This could have an impact on access to safe
drinking water, sanitation, health and daily survival needs of the people. This may also threaten food
security and agriculture activities, which will come to a halt. For an agro-based country like India this
could also mean loss of agriculture export putting a steep burden for imports of agro-goods. No water
will slow down the growth of construction businesses and functions of industries that use water
extensively for production. On ground-level, reports of even disputes and violence over no water have
surfaced too. Yet, NGOs like Arappor Iyakkam in Chennai have been denied to protest the ongoing water
crisis.

Plan of Action

In an attempt to alleviate the water crisis, government think tank NITI Aayog has come up with a plan to
set-up desalinization plants along the country’s coastline with an aim to transit non-potable salt water
into fresh drinking water through a network of pipelines to population centres. The plan is on the similar
lines of Saudi Arabia’s production of desalinized water with desalinization plants set-up along the
country’s coastline. The government has also launched a campaign ‘Jal Shakti Abhiyan’ stressing upon
the urgent need of water conservation. The campaign would focus on water conservation and rainwater
harvesting, renovation of traditional and other water bodies, reuse of water and recharging of
structures, watershed development, and intensive afforestation.

Few states have also formulated their own state-specific policy in order to deal with the rising water
crisis. Meghalaya State Cabinet approved a draft water policy after an intensive discussion with the CM
Conrad K Sangma and stakeholders. The policy aims to recognise water resources as common pool
resource for safe drinking water and for domestic uses and ensuring conservation. Uttar Pradesh
Assembly speaker Hriday Narain Dixit has directed only a half-glass of water to be served to the officials
to prevent wastage of water.
Way Forward

Apart from the water conservation plan by the ministry and the PM, government needs to identify
states that receive highest rainfall like West Bengal, Karnataka, Odisha and create water reservoirs and
connect those reservoirs with pipelines for emergency withdrawal. States should encourage cultivation
of crops like millets, pulses that require less water in water stressed regions.

According to figures presented by Jal Shakti minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat in Parliament recently,
the over-drawing of ground water through the decades and changes in rainfall patterns has precipitated
India’s water crisis. Hence, each state needs to come up with zero-wastage- efficient-usage policy and
conduct water audits in order to examine how much water and where it’s being used to avoid wastage.

Farmers in Punjab are using rapidly depleting groundwater because they have improper infrastructure
to use the overflowing water canals. Absence of proper infrastructure to support water conservation
and efficient use is another leak in the sink. Also, it is eminent that water supply should be evenly
distributed and taxed for different activities to avoid over-withdrawal from single water source. This will
provide time for water bodies to replenish and not deplete rapidly in long-term.

Apart from water conservation and rainwater harvesting, government needs to address the water-
polluting activities, which are further inflaming the water crisis like discharge of harmful chemicals and
waste into water bodies by pharmaceutical, textile and auto industry players.