India’s water crisis

THE NEWSMAKERS | July 4, 2019

Water management in India has been on an unsustainable path for decades. With each passing year, its population and urbanization have increased, and commercial and industrial activities have grown. However, its water management practices have been stuck in the 20th century, and some even in 19th century! India now uses more groundwater than China and United States combined. Free electricity to farmers for pumping water for irrigation; indiscriminate withdrawal of water for domestic, commercial and industrial purposes; absence of proper wastewater treatment and reuse; inefficient water institutions at all levels; total absence of land use planning; endemic corruption and extensive political interferences to manage water over short-term, are only some of the major root causes for mismanagement. India has enough water not only for now, but also for 2050 when population will go up to 1.7 billion, but only if water is managed properly. India is facing a very severe water crisis not because of physical scarcity of this resource but because of poor management. Crisis is entirely man-made. Turkish TV recently had a discussion on India’s water crisis. Listen to my views on this issue.