Water scarcity in India is an ongoing crisis that affects hundreds of millions of people each year. In addition to affecting the huge rural and urban population, the water scarcity in India also extensively affects the ecosystem and agriculture. India has only 4/100% of the world's fresh water resources with a population of over 1.4 billion people. In addition to the disproportionate availability of freshwater, water scarcity in India also results from drying up of rivers and their reservoirs in the summer months, right before the onset of the monsoons throughout the country. The crisis has especially worsened in the recent years due to climate change which results in delayed monsoons, consequently drying out reservoirs in several regions. Other factors attributed to the shortage of water in India are a lack of proper infrastructure and government oversight and unchecked water pollution. Several large cities of India have experienced water shortages in recent years, with Chennai being the most prominent in 2019. The shortage of water affected the entire city of 9 million people and resulted in the closure of several hotels, restaurants and businesses. Large cities are not the only ones facing this risk. As per a report by WWF, out of the 30 Indian cities at risk of ‘severe water scarcity’ by 2050, 26 are midsized or small cities like Dhanbad, Nashik, and Jabalpur. The acute shortage of water for daily needs has prompted many government and non government organizations to take stringent measures to combat the problem, including the Government of India forming an entire 'Jal Shakti' Ministry to deal with the problem. The government has also insisted on techniques such as rainwater harvesting, water conservation and more efficient irrigation as agriculture alone is responsible for 80% of the country's water usage. Due to increasing demands, it is estimated that India will become a water scarce nation by 2025. According to a 2019 report by the National Institution for Transforming India (NITI Aayog), the best estimates indicate that India’s water demand will exceed supply by a factor of two by 2030.
Impacts of water scarcity in India
People The scarcity of water in India affects hundreds of millions of people across the country. A major portion of the population does not have a reliable and constant means of getting water for their daily needs. In June 2019, 65% of all reservoirs in India reported below-normal water levels, and 12% were completely dry. Since tap water is unavailable in many cities including some megacities such as Chennai, residents are reliant on alternative water sources. The country has scattered public water pumps but a lot of them are located far away from cities and their water flow is intermittent and unpredictable. A lot of Indians are forced with the option of spending money to buy drinking water but the poor sections of the society are unable to afford it on a daily basis which creates a massive problem of water scarcity for the rural population of India. Limited accessibility to water is a threat to the people's health. Insufficient water has the capacity to deteriorate the health of an entire city in times of a water crisis. In the city of Latur, the depletion of more than 90% of water sources resulted in a major health crisis and people were forced to dig borewells into the ground, exposing themselves to dangerous chemicals and risking contamination. Some local residents were forced to consume polluted water sources due to the crisis at hand. In June 2016, the count of health problems skyrocketed in Latur, with multiple people showing symptoms of fever, infection, dehydration, vomiting, and kidney ailments. In addition to this health crisis, hospitals were unable to safely perform any surgery due to the increased threat of post-operative infections and complications resulting from a lack of clean drinking water. A similar crisis emerged in Chennai in 2019 resulting in violent incidents and protests amongst the residents of the city. In June 2019 in Chennai, a woman was stabbed by her neighbor as she attempted to dig a borewell for water. In February 2016, New Delhi was led to the brink of a severe water crisis by some Jat tribe demonstrators who purposefully damaged the Munak canal, a crucial source of water supply for the city. The protests were in retaliation to the Supreme Court judgement which cancelled Other Backward Class (OBC) quotas for them. The water crisis in India was also exacerbated by the emergence of the so-called water mafia or 'tanker mafia'. Tanker mafia refers to private water tank owners who smuggle clean water illegally and sell it to local people at expensive prices. The tanker mafia is notorious in the city of Bhopal, where the mafia has been reported to bully poor residents and competing businesses, creating an atmosphere of social instability.
Ecosystem Water scarcity also threatens the lives of wild animals across India. Wild animals are forced to infiltrate villages and cities in India as they attempt to find potable water. In 2016, the city of Mettur and Kolathur experienced an acute water shortage caused by a drought, which caused water bodies in nearby forests to dry out. Eventually, local wild animals like elephants, tigers, and spotted deer started to sneak into the cities in search of water. Some of these animals pose a threat to the citizens, as they can attack people. Some animals like spotted deer get physically attacked by dogs in the process, or they wind up injured or dead in accidents. In the Madurai district, the acute water shortage caused Indian gaurs to die by falling into wells as they looked for water.
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