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LATEST NEWS UPDATES | India uses up more groundwater than US and China -Subodh Varma

India uses up more groundwater than US and China -Subodh Varma

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published Published on May 24, 2017   modified Modified on May 24, 2017
-The Times of India

Right on the edge of the Ganga basin that spans 11 Indian states lies Naujhil block, a few kilometres west of the Yamuna in UP's Mathura district. You would think this is a blessed location with plentiful water all round. With its 17 tributaries, including the Yamuna, Ganga's catchment area has about 525 billion cubic metres (bcm) of surface water and about 171 bcm of groundwater.

On average, it receives a million cubic metres of rainfall on every square kilometre. But Naujhil block is a declared "dark zone", that is, its groundwater extraction far exceeds the recharging rate and use of electricity for pumping water is not permitted. Because of heavy withdrawal, the groundwater is very saline now.

Subhash Nauwar, a farmer from Managarhi village in the area, says, "About 35-40 years ago, there was no problem. This is the khadar (floodplain) of the Yamuna and its water would recharge the groundwater sources. But people wanted more crops, so a bund was built to prevent flooding. Now there is no water." It's bizarre. Most residents of Managarhi use bottled water for drinking and cooking, as if they were living in a desert and not in one of the world's most water-rich plains. This water scarcity is spreading across India, smothering idyllic villages and high-rise city habitats in equal measure. No Indian city supplies 24x7 drinkable water to all of its residents.

In many cities, including Bengaluru and Chennai, water scarcity has reached crisis levels and in pampered Delhi, every summer brings intense water scarcity for the disadvantaged sections.

Meanwhile, in rural India, zooming agricultural production over the years has mostly been fuelled by heavy use of groundwater because not enough investment was made for using surface and rainwater through canals and reservoirs. Now, take a look at India's water equation: after accounting for losses due to evaporation and unusable water like brackish water or swamp water, the total usable water available in the country is 1,123 bcm, while the total water consumption in 2006 was 829 bcm, projected to rise to 1,093 bcm by 2020. So, in just a few years, India will reach its limit of water consumption because water supply cannot be increased. It is a definite, finite resource.

Increase in population has, of course, contributed to the situation reaching these dire straits, but a closer look will reveal gross mismanagement and neglect by governments, coupled with an unbridled destruction of resources as if there is no tomorrow. Take rainwater for instance.

Just 18% of rainwater is used effectively while 48% enters the river systems, most of which just fl ows into the ocean, according to Narayan Hegde, a water expert with the BAIF Research Development Foundation. "Farm ponds, percolation tanks, water reservoirs and small and medium-sized dams can help retain more surface water while increasing the groundwater recharge," he told TOI.

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The Times of India, 23 May, 2017, http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/india-uses-up-more-groundwater-than-us-and-china/articleshow/58797399.cms


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