World Environment Day: India’s Water Crisis Worse Than You Think

Rise in population coupled with a lack of water harvesting facilities have led to the water shortage. (Photo: iStockphoto)

For World Environment Day 2016 on June 5th, The Quint brings you a series of stories on the state of water in India. The past couple of years have been drier than usual. Weak monsoons had devastating consequences for farmers across the country. Follow our World Environment Day coverage for a look at our water situation.

This piece was originally published on 23 April 2016.

Various parts of the country are reeling under a severe drought and a water crisis. Data also reveals that the situation is getting worse by the day.

The per capita water availability in the country has come down 70 percent from 1951 to 2011, in a span of 60 years.

While growth of population is one of the reasons for this, the over exploitation of ground water coupled with lack of harvesting is making matters worse.

Water Requirement Would Reach 1447 BCM by 2050

The average annual water availability in the country has been assessed at 1869 billion cubic meters (BCM).

The total water requirement for various uses like agriculture, industrial and domestic uses etc. in the country has been assessed by the ‘Standing Sub-Committee for Assessment of Availability and Requirement of Water for Diverse Uses in the Country’ to be about 813 BCM, 1093 BCM, and 1447 BCM by the year 2010, 2025 and 2050 respectively.

However, the National Commission for Integrated Water Resources Development has assessed that with the achievement of the desired level of efficiency, the water requirement by the year 2010, 2025 and 2050 will be about 710 BCM, 843 BCM and 1180 BCM respectively.

A bulk of this requirement would be for irrigation. As per the Central Water Commission, only 1123 BCM of water is utilizable out of the available water including surface and ground water resources.

Per Capita Water Availability in 2011 is 1545 Cubic Meters

The per capita water availability in the country is reducing due to increase in population.

The average annual per capita availability of water, taking into consideration the population in various census has come down 70 percent from 1951 to 2011, in a span of 60 years.

The per capita availability of water as per 1951 census was 5177 cubic meters. This is down to 1545 cubic meters as per 2011 census. As per the 2001 census, it was 1816 cubic meters It has continuously decreased owing to the increase in population.

(Photo courtesy: Factly)

What is an Over-Exploited Area?

Central Ground Water Board (CGWB) categorises variously assessed units into Over-exploited, Critical, etc., based on the stage of ground water development and the long-term trend of pre- and post-monsoon groundwater levels.

The stage of ground-water development is a ratio of Annual Ground Water Draft and Net Annual Ground Water Availability in percentage.

The present stage of ground water development in the country is at 58 percent. The following are the four categories as defined by CGWB based on the criteria mentioned above.

(Photo courtesy: Factly)

One in Every Six Assessed Blocks is Over-Exploited in Ground Water

The latest assessment of Dynamic Ground Water Resources was carried out jointly by Central Ground Water Board (CGWB) and the State Governments in 2011.

Out of 6607 assessed units (Blocks/ Mandals/ Talukas) in the Country, 1071 units falling in 16 States and 2 UTs have been categorized as ‘Over-Exploited’.

217 assessed units are ‘Critical’ and 697 are ‘Semi-Critical’. In other words, one out of every six assessed units is over exploited while 3 out of every 10 assessed units are not safe. Overall, 30% of the assessed units are in over-exploited, critical or semi critical state.

(Photo courtesy: Factly)

Delhi and Rajasthan at the Top of Ground Water Exploitation

Within the states, 92.6 percent of the assessed units in Delhi are in over-exploited, critical or semi critical state.

Rajasthan is a close second with 88.9 percent of the assessed units in such a state. In both Punjab and Haryana, more than 80 percent of the assessed units are in such a state.

More than 30 percent of the assessed units are not in a safe state in 10 of the states. In Bihar, only 2.1 percent of the assessed units are in such a state while in Odisha, all the 314 assessed units were found to be safe.

(Photo courtesy: Factly)

Also read:

• The Severe Water Crisis Haunting Marathwada in Pictures
  
• World Water Day 2016: Why Is India Water-stressed?
  

Water scarcity is a major global concern. This story is part of The Quint’s #WaterBucketChallenge campaign for World Environment Day 2016. Join us in trying to save water one bucket at a time using our hashtag and make sure you tag us too!