Groundwater Crisis in Indian Cities: Current Status, Impact, Reasons and Solutions

Context

This Article is based on the news “Bengaluru water crisis: Is the southern metropolis heading towards Day Zero?” which was published in the DownToEarth. Bengaluru is facing a severe water crisis attributed to a prolonged drought. 

Key Highlights On Bengaluru Water Crisis

• Impact on Irrigation: The shortage has affected the drinking water supply as well as impacted irrigation. Of the 14,700 borewells in Bengaluru, 6,997 have dried up.
• Risks for Day Zero: Around 30 localities under the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) are receiving water on a rotational basis every alternate day. 
• • This raises concern that Bengaluru could face a situation similar to Cape Town’s ‘Day Zero‘ in 2018 considering the fact that the next monsoon is still a hundred days away.
  • Day Zero refers to the point at which Cape Town’s municipal water supply would be shut off.
• Extinction of Lakes: According to data from the Karnataka State Pollution Control Board (KSPCB), nearly 90 percent of Bengaluru’s lakes are facing imminent extinction. 
  • The city has also lost its lakes that recharged aquifers. In 1961, Bengaluru had 262 lakes. Today, it has 81.
  • The dissolved oxygen levels in their water have reduced below the desired threshold of 4 mg/lt due to organic pollution.
• Growing Water Crisis in Indian Cities: Water delivery in Indian cities is becoming increasingly difficult due to the city’s continued growth and high urban population growth. These challenges impact the availability, quality, and sustainability of water resources.

Status of Water Crisis in Indian Cities

• Extent of Crisis: 

• • According to the Composite Water Management Index’ (CWMI) report 2018 by the NITI Aayog, nearly 600 million Indians are facing high-to-extreme water stress.
  • By 2020, 21 Indian cities will run out of groundwater.

• Impact and Projection:

• • According to the NITI Aayog, about 200,000 people die every year due to lack of safe water. 
  • It projects the crisis will escalate with the water availability dwindling to merely half of the effective demand by 2030.
  • According to the World Health Organization, 97 million Indians lack access to safe water today, second only to China. 
  • In addition, water scarcity in India is expected to worsen as the overall population is expected to increase to 1.6 billion by the year 2050.
  • If mitigation measures are not implemented, India will face a 6% loss in its gross domestic product (GDP) by 2050. 

• Water Contamination: 

  • With nearly 70% of water contaminated, India ranks 120th of 122 countries in a global water quality index.
    • According to the Living Planet Report, WWF 2020, at least 30 Indian cities will face a grave water risk by 2050.

• Per Capita Availability: 

  • About 820 million people of India – living in twelve river basins across the country have per capita water availability close to or lower than 1000m3.

• Declining Ganges Water Levels: 

  • According to a study, the Ganges has witnessed unprecedentedly low levels of water in several lower reaches in the last few summer seasons.
    • This would severely affect water available for surface water irrigation, with potential future decline in food production. 

Impact of Water Crisis 

• Lack of Reliable Water Supply:  

  • Three-fourths of India’s rural families lack access to piped, drinkable water and must rely on unsafe sources.
    • 163 Million Indians lack access to safe drinking water
    • 210 Million Indians lack access to improved sanitation
    • 21% of communicable diseases are linked to unsafe water
    • 500 children under the age of five die from diarrhea each day in India

• Impact on Agriculture: 

  • Reduced water availability impacts agriculture leading to lower crop yields and increased food prices. 

• Impact on Health: 

  • Communities suffer from inadequate sanitation and hygiene, resulting in waterborne diseases. 
    • According to a Lancet study, around half million deaths in 2019 were caused by water pollution in India.

• Conflicts Among Communities: 

• • Conflicts arise over water resources among different sectors and communities. 

• Disproportionate Impact on Women: 

  • The crisis of water puts them at a higher risk of vulnerability. 
    • Fetching water in India has been perceived as a woman’s job for centuries. Women, especially in the rural areas, walk miles to collect water from the nearest source.

Reasons Behind the Water Crisis in India

• Unplanned Urbanisation:  

  • Unplanned urbanization has resulted in chaotic expansion, disrupting the local ecology, hydrology, and environment of Indian cities.
    • Ex-In Bangalore, the discharge of effluents into water bodies via main sewers and the stormwater system has also led to the pollution of both surface and groundwater sources. 

• Encroachment of Water Bodies: 

  • The lakes and water bodies have been diverted by the real estate sector for housing developments. 
    • According to the Karnataka State Pollution Control Board (KSPCB), nearly 90 per cent of Bengaluru’s lakes are on the verge of extinction. 

• Loss of the Blue-Green Infrastructure: 

  • The shrinkage of water bodies and parks and green spaces that allow water to percolate has resulted in a significant underutilisation of rainwater harvesting and capture methods.

• Overexploitation of Groundwater: 

  • Despite possessing surface water resources, India is highly dependent on groundwater for day-to-day survival. 
    • A large part of the Green Revolution’s need for water was met by groundwater. With over 20 million wells, often operating with subsidised power, they have contributed to depleting groundwater.
    • According to a Punjab Agricultural University (PAU) study, Punjab’s groundwater fell by over a meter every year in 18 of its 22 districts from 1998 to 2018.

• Sub-Optimal Planting Patterns:  

  • Water-consuming crops like sugarcane and paddy are grown in states like Maharashtra and Punjab. 
    • Despite the intensive water requirement, Maharashtra grows 22 percent of the total sugarcane output in the country. 
    • Similarly, in Punjab, 80 percent of the water used for irrigating the paddy fields is drawn from groundwater sources. 
    • On the leeward side of the Western Ghats where rainfall is low, farmers are growing sugarcane, a water-intensive crop. As a result, a small fraction of cultivable land guzzles a disproportionate share of the state’s irrigation. 

• Virtual Water Loss: 

  • The international trade in agricultural commodities contributes to large quantities of virtual water loss by exporting water-intensive crops. 

• Poor Storage Capacity: 

  • The per capita water storage capacity in India is about 209 m3 which is meagre in comparison to other countries like Australia (3223 m3).

• Severe Mismatch between Water Resource and Population: 

• • Despite housing 18% of the global population, India has access to only 4% of the world’s water resources. 

Way Forward to Mitigate Water Crisis in India

• World Bank’s Water Scarce Cities Initiative:  It seeks to promote an integrated approach to managing water resources and service delivery in water-scarce cities as the basis for building resilience against climate change. 
• National Water Council (NWC): For national-level solutions, it would be most appropriate to form a NWC along the lines of the GST.  Its three main objectives should be to:
  • Preventing Unrestricted Groundwater Extraction: This would include the need to address the practice of providing free electricity for irrigation pumps, as any service provided entirely free is bound to be misused.
  • Assessment from a watershed and river basin perspective: It must be ensured that all institutions responsible for water management assess from a watershed and river basin perspective. 
    • Currently, there is a tendency for each State to view the river flows within their geographic boundaries and they have separate responsibilities for surface water and groundwater.
  • Realigning Cropping Patterns: It can be achieved by incentivising water-intensive crops in areas with surplus water and less water-intensive crops in water-stressed regions.

• Incentivising Micro Irrigation: It is needed not just in terms of initial subsidy but also in procurement from farmers adopting such practices. Gradually, states can mandate the use of micro-irrigation for specific crops.
  • India has the potential to bring nearly 69.5 million hectares under micro irrigation but so far, only 7.73 million hectares has been covered under micro-irrigation.
• Decentralising Micro Irrigation Management: In the case of small irrigation schemes, the ability to deliver water efficiently to the last mile is missing. This can only be improved by the support and involvement of the end users. 
  • A framework that decentralises micro irrigation management to either FPOs or Water User Associations would be more effective. 
• Rainwater Storage: India is not an inherently water-starved country as it receives annually about 2,600 billion cubic metres (BCM) of water through rain and snow. 
  • However, only around 258 BCM (or less than a tenth) can potentially be stored in available water reservoirs. 
  • Measures such as rainwater harvesting and traditional models of water conservation, as pioneered by Rajendra Singh, the Water Man of India are needed.
• Replenishing Groundwater: To address the seasonal fluctuations in groundwater levels, utilising open spaces such as fallow land and green areas to recharge shallow aquifers with rainwater during the monsoon season could prove beneficial.
• Optimum Water Pricing: A good pricing model needs to account for both the user’s capacity to pay as well as the real cost of the water. 
  • Financial tools such as a Water Risk Monetizer (a financial tool developed by Ecolab, Microsoft and Trucost) provide a new way for governments and businesses to assess the true cost of water by looking at various factors like water availability, projected water usage, current price of water and water quality.
• Disintivising Water Intensive Crops: The cultivation of water-intensive crops such as sugarcane in Maharashtra and rice in Punjab and Haryana should be incentivised and they must be shifted to water-rich eastern and north-eastern regions. 
• Other Steps Needed:
• • Ensure complete treatment of domestic sewage.
  • Apply the ‘polluter pays’ principle to industries discharging untreated industrial effluents as per the Water Act of 1974.
  • Create mini forests of 1-2 hectares with native species in each ward, and re-establish inter-connectivity among lakes by evicting all encroachments of storm water drains.

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