Water scarcity and sustainability

Simply put, water scarcity is either the lack of enough water (quantity) or lack of access to safe water (quality). It’s hard for most of us to imagine that clean, safe water is not something that can be taken for granted. But, in the developing world, finding a reliable source of safe water is often time consuming and expensive. This is known as economic scarcity. Water can be found it simply requires more resources to do it. In other areas, the lack of water is a more profound problem. There simply isn’t enough. That is known as physical scarcity. The problem of water scarcity is a growing one. As more people put ever increasing demands on limited supplies, the cost and effort to build or even maintain access to water will increase. And water’s importance to political and social stability will only grow with the crisis.

In India, more than 90 per cent of the groundwater is consumed for agriculture. Of this a large percentage of water is used on that land which requires constant irrigation. According to the Ministry of Water Resources, industrial water use in India stands at about 50 billion cubic meters or nearly 6 per cent of total freshwater abstraction. This demand is expected to increase dramatically in the next decade. This water is also primarily drawn from the land. However, we Indians are not still ready to accept the reality of depleting groundwater reserves. This condition has caused a major water crisis.
Around 330 million people in India are affected by drought in the current year as per the government estimates. The factors responsible for this include:

• The rampant plundering of groundwater reserves for agricultural and industrial purposes,
• Contamination of underground drinking water sources,
• the cultivation of water-intensive crops such as sugarcane in vulnerable areas, and
• The damming of rivers in the upper reaches have been instrumental for this catastrophe.
• The rapid growth of population and its growing needs has meant that per capita availability of fresh water has declined sharply from 3,000 cubic metres to 1,123 cubic metres over the past 50 years. The global average is 6,000 cubic metres. As water demand is expected to rise further, the pace of supply is expected to fall further.

At present 4 billion people worldwide are affected by the shortage for at least one month every year. Latest studies show that the impact of the crisis is most acutely felt by about 1.8 billion people for six months in a year. The World Economic Forum rates “water crises as one of the three greatest risks of harm to people and economies”.

Depleting groundwater levels are the biggest threat to rural livelihoods and food security. There’s been a 6% dip in share of groundwater wells within 10 metres below the ground. This depth is the threshold beyond which farmers have to start using deep-water equipment, which adds to their hardship. Mispricing of water has meant that large parts of Indian cities do not have access to regular water supply. Two of India’s 5 biggest cities are unable to meet the recommended quantities of water supply. Most of the water goes to privileged classes.
In this respect, Cooperative groundwater management should be accorded top priority. This involves government at all tires, empowering local groups with the understanding of the status of groundwater on a regular basis, so that extraction does not exceed the sustainable limit. Further, Land reclamation and efficient soil and water management, with well-planned seasonal crop mixes using short-duration varieties, should form part of a comprehensive strategy to protect and boost monsoon-dependent agriculture.

By: Abhishek Sharma