600 million Indians face high to extreme water stress

The country’s water demand is projected to be twice the available supply by 2013 according to a report released by the Niti Aayog. About 600 million Indians face high to extreme water stress and about two lakh people die every year due to inadequate access to safe water.

Niti Aayog has developed a composite water management index (CWMI), with inputs from 2016-17. According to the index, Gujarat stands stands in first place, closely followed by Madhya Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Maharashtra and Telangana state.

The index tries to benchmark state-level performance on key water indicators. It also explains how states have progressed on water issues.Environmentalist B.V. Subba Rao said, “Supply will be half and demand will increase manifold. Diversified development demands more water.” He said supply would plunge because of depletion and pollution of groundwater and pollution of surface water.

“Most irrigation reservoirs will become sources of drinking water. Already Nagarjunsagar and Manjeera which were once constructed for irrigation are being used for drinking water.” This is going to be the trend, which started early in the 1900s, Dr Subba Rao said.

Environmentalist B. Kalpana Ramesh said, “We don’t do much about rainwater harvesting, which is the need of the hour.” She said the rising population was another cause for concern.