According to a study released by NITI Aayog on Thursday, India is facing the worst water crisis in its history. The study warned the demand of potable water to outrun the supply by the year 2030 in the absence of substantial remedial measures.
The report titled ‘Composite Water Management Index’ set off the alarm bells by stating that at least 21 major cities may run out of groundwater by 2030. Minister for Water Resources Nitin Gadkari released the report.
The report estimates India’s water crisis to get worse with the rapid increase in the country’s water demand which is estimated to double by 2030. Experts believe that while millions of Indians will face water scarcity, the country may a suffer a loss of up to 6 per cent of the GDP owing to water shortage and escalating demand.
“Water management is often currently viewed as a zero-sum game by states due to limited frameworks for inter-state and national management. This has resulted in seven major disputes regarding the country’s rivers, involving 11 states, as well as limited policy coordination on issues like agricultural incentives, pump electricity pricing, etc. These issues can be addressed by boosting cooperation at a federal and inter-state level,” the report stated.
The report ranked all Indian states on water management, conservation and restoration practices. The result yielded Gujarat at top of the list followed by Madhya Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Maharashtra. Heavily populated states like Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Bihar and Rajasthan performed poorly on the index.
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