More than 50% of the population has no access to pure drinking water and this results in 200,000 deaths every year.
The clock is ticking for India, as the country is currently facing the biggest crisis in history and this is getting worse than the pandemic. India is suffering from one of the world's worst national water crises. Fetching water is a common and regular activity in rural areas. Rural dependence on the ground water resources, and the water consumption becomes unsustainable. The water bodies dries up due to the over consumption. This has escalated the crisis and led to extreme scarcity of water in rural areas.
How severe is the Indian water crisis?
- 1. The estimation shows that by 2030, India will have half the water left, if we continue the current usage and this would happen in the coming 10 years.
- 2. 80% of the water used by agriculture, soon we will face food scarcity and it will lead to deaths from hunger.
- 3. India draws 25% of the world’s groundwater and that’s more than China and the United States combined.
- 4. 60% Of the Indian states have less supply or unsafe ground water.
- 5. India ranks 120 out of 122 in the global water quality index, that is the by far worst ranks.
- 6. The scarcity of water will result in a huge country's economic loss. We could face about 6% of loss in GDP.
India witnessedits major loss in the present times, as the country has only 4% of world's fresh water resources, whereas the country constitutes 16% of the population.
The continuous climate change worsened the situation with improper rains, summer reaching its highest temperature, which also contribute to the scarcity of water in the future.
What caused WATER CRISES?
The water is extremely useful resource and people don't understand the importance until the crucial consequences are faced
- 1. Overuse of water
- 2. Water pollution
- 3. Droughts
- 4. Polluting the natural water bodies
- 5. Climate changes
- 6. Global Warming
256 out of 700 districts reported the natural water body’s pollution, which resulted in fetching the water harder than ever.
Reports show that cities like Mumbai, Gujarat, Karnataka, and Jharkhand has been affected by the water scarcity immensely from 2017-2018. Over these years ground water level has fallen according to the agricultural ministry.
However, States with less than 25% of its population with access to pure drinking water granted lower priority in coverage. Water-stressed regions will continue to suffer more.
What can be done?
- 1. Educate the people about the water importance
- 2. Raising awareness and Initiating campaigns
- 3. Automation in conservation technologies
- 4. Improve the agriculture water usage
- 5. Recycle waste water
- 6. Improve the water pricing
- 7. Rain water harvesting
India is on its way to become a huge Tech giant , but we cannot afford this milestone on the loss of the extremely useful resource and it is water. The world is full of knowledge, technology, and we are also capable of solving this issue. All we need to do is care about our planet and make it a better place to live before it is too late.