Shrinking Water, Burgeoning Needs.

India faces a turbulent water future. If the practices are not changed very soon, India will be on the verge of facing a severe water crisis and to add to the problem it neither has the cash nor the water needed by its growing economy and its ever rising population

Due to lack of water supply and low levels of connectivity of water resources, farmers and urban dwellers alike have resorted to helping themselves by pumping out groundwater through tubewells. Today, 70% of India’s irrigation needs and 80% of its domestic water supplies come from groundwater. This practice has led to rapidly declining water tables and critically depleted aquifers, and is no longer sustainable.

Ganga flows around 1550 miles, passing (and giving life to) some of the most populous cities of India, including Kanpur (2 million), Allahabad, Varanasi, Patna, and Calcutta (14 million)

The major polluting industries on the Ganga are the leather industries, especially near Kanpur, which use large amounts of Chromium and other chemicals. However, industry is not the only source of pollution. Sheer volume of waste - estimated at nearly 1 billion litres per day - of mostly untreated raw sewage - is a significant factor. Also, inadequate cremation procedures contributes to a large number of partially burnt or unburnt corpses floating down the Ganga.

Take the example of river Yamuna which flows through the heart of our capital city and forms the base support of all our water needs. Yamuna enters Delhi at Palla village 15 km upstream of Wazirabad barrage, which acts as a reservoir for Delhi. Delhi generates 1,900 million litre per day (mld) of sewage, against an installed wastewater treatment capacity of 1,270 mld. Thus, 630 mld of untreated and a significant amount of partially treated sewage enter the river every day.

The Wazirabad barrage lets out very little water into the river. In summer months especially, the only flow downstream of Wazirabad is of industrial and sewage effluents. Lesser discharge means lesser river flow and thus, greater levels of pollution. From the Okhla barrage, which is the exit point for the river in Delhi, the Agra canal branches out from Yamuna. During the dry months, almost no water is released from this barrage to downstream Yamuna. Instead, discharges from the Shahadara drain join the river downstream of the barrage, bringing effluents from east Delhi and Noida into the river. This is the second largest polluter of the river after the Najafgarh drain.

Water crisis has already hit a major chunk of the population, mainly the areas that are economically productive and with high population. According to Estimates by 2020, India’s demand for water will exceed supply from all the possible sources. We hardly have around a decade to save ourselves. If plans remain just on paper we will remain no more.