We frequently read articles related to water shortage, contaminated water and water crisis in different parts of India and the world. As long as we have clean water to drink and hot water to bathe in our own homes, however, we do nothing more than turn the page and move on to the next piece of news.
Recently, NITI Aayog, a policy think tank established by the Government of India, released a report on the situation of water in India.
The report is quite alarming and encourages Indians to address the acute water crisis.
It ranks 24 of the 29 Indian states on their water management practices. The states are evaluated on various factors such as irrigation and farm practices, restoration of water bodies, recycling and reuse of wastewater, access and purity of drinking water and governance and policies.
What is interesting is that some of the best performers have been states such as Gujarat, Rajasthan, and Madhya Pradesh. These are the states that have suffered severe droughts! Because they suffer so much, they have probably taken steps to improve their situation.
The report warns that if the current trend continues, 21 states including large cities like Delhi, Bangalore, Hyderabad and Chennai will not have any underground water left by 2030. That’s not so far away.
Why are we running out of water? A surge in water demand, water spills from water tankers, old leaky pipelines and climate change are some of the reasons.
What do we use underground water for? Groundwater makes up 40% of our total water supply. This is slowly being depleted. We use it for all our domestic purposes such as drinking, bathing and washing dishes.
Since there is less clean water available, the demand for bottled water is on the rise. Here’s the shocker! Did you know that almost 5 bottles of regular water are used to create one bottle of packaged drinking water?
Check out some basic statistics from the Niti Aayog report (2018):
Contributed By: Anshini Jhaveri
