How Climate Change Caused Water Crisis From Durban To Chennai ?

The month of June and July saw a disturbing development where India’s big cities like Chennai with 4.5 million residents have run out of water after a major city like Durban. India’s water resources are facing stiff pressure by the widespread urbanisation, growth in population, industrialisation and inefficient water use. Severe droughts in the country have drained rivers, reservoirs and aquifers putting the nation’s leaky, polluted water systems to the brink.It puts India in 120^th position among 122 countries in terms of water quality index.

According to the reports of NITI AAYOG more than 600 million Indians are facing “acute water shortages”. Seventy percent of the nation’s water supply is contaminated causing more than 200,000 deaths per year and 21 cities in the country will face serious depletion of groundwater including cities like Bangalore and New Delhi. It is estimated that more than 500 million people will have no access to drinking water by 2030.

The rising temperatures and shrinking snowfall due to global warming will melt the Himalayan glaciers and the major waterways from Indus to the Ganges will be affected. In some regions the glaciers can shrink by half at the end of this century.

However, the threats are not new in the country's small towns which faced crisis even before Chennai. Chennai is the first major city in India that has run out of water. According to the United Nation’s World Water Report since the year 1980 the usage of water has increased by 1 percent. The report of 2019 revealed that more than 4 billion people have experienced severe water crisis for at least one month every year. In another context demand of water is also a major issue. The availability of water has sharply declined by 70 percent from 5,177 cubic meters in 1951 to 1,545 cubic meters in 2011.India receives adequate rain every year to fulfil the demand and needs of the people. In the light of the reports by the country’s Central Water Commission India needs 3,000 billion cubic meters of water and receives 4,000 billion cubic meters of rain but the story also draws a picture of inefficiency and misuse.

The farmers in the country employ inefficient irrigation systems with highly subsidised electricity to suck up water from the ground. The agricultural sector uses 80 percent of the water contributing only 15 percent to the country’s GDP. India’s industries like paper and pulp, power, textiles and automobiles sectors are the biggest users of water extracted from the ground. The World Resources Institute reported that 14 out of 20 thermal power plants have stopped their operations due to shortage in groundwater from 2013-2016.It is estimated that more than 80 percent of water distributed among the households is drained as sewage and adequate treatment for reuse remains undone in comparison to the countries like Israel and Australia where 100 percent of the used water is treated and 94 percent are sent back to the households.

In context, India needs solutions urgently to counter such threats. It needs to reduce the amount of overall amount of water stress; appropriate measures should be taken to improve water management capacities. Joint monitoring , planning of water user groups and initiative should be taken for educating and training on water crisis with respect to climate change.It echoes the words of Benjamin Franklin, " when the well is dry, we know the worth of water".