India's water crisis is showing up in different parts of the country as droughts, crop failure, unclean water, widespread water contamination. The Economic Times writes today that water shortages are affecting factory production across India, threatening Make In India and the country's growth plans.
But it is not just factories that are reeling: every urban Indian resident who is buying an RO system or water filter knows that the struggle for clean, easily available water is now everywhere. It is affecting Indians across demographics, cities and income classes, and is set to worsen - the Water Resources Institute predicts that in ten years, India's available water will be 50% below demand.
Areas like Maharashtra, Gujarat, Rajasthan and Punjab are already deeply stressed - affecting crop production and poverty levels. In the south, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu are scrambling for water. In Bangalore, the water shortage has resulted in predictions that the city will become 'unlivable' in five years, due to droughts.
The fight for water today is between India's farms, factories, and ordinary people. It is a thirst that is becoming harder to quench every year as monsoons have grown unreliable. The dependence on groundwater is drying up wells - over half of these are now severely stressed.
Water shortages of the kind India is facing cannot be addressed by short-term solutions: we are at the point where it impacts GDP growth, and incumbent politicians are paying the price during re-elections due to droughts and farmer suicides - the issue of drought now hits news headlines every week. Local bandaids and river linking projects do not address the basic issue of shortage and contaminated supply. Governments will have to put in systems that halt the abuse of groundwater, water wastage, and the dumping of sewage in rivers and lakes: something that has been ongoing for the last few decades.
Image source: Water Resources Institute
