India is a country where the demand for water is growing steeply. A significant percentage of this demand is met through over exploitation of groundwater sources. Farmers, industry, and urban communities are demanding more and more water from these sources. The problem is further exacerbated by the fact that we have a small population spread over a vast land area. According to the Composite Water Management Index (CWMI) report released by the Niti Aayog, 21 major cities are moving towards zero groundwater levels by 2020.
Industrial Demand: With the growing industrialization, commercialization of agriculture, and increase in per capita income; the need to use irrigation water will be more. The large population associated with a high fertility rate leads to a huge waste of water and this causes a shortage.
Rising consumption: The debate on the water crisis has been growing for the past 15 years, but the situation now reached a level where almost every state is an underwater crisis. The rising population, increasing urbanization, and industrialization are the main reasons for this situation.
Freshwater deficit: The freshwater deficit has been a major problem for India following the massive increase in population. The freshwater crisis in India is not just the result of changing climate patterns; it is also due to severe mismanagement of the water resource.
Unsafe and Poor quality: When considering India’s water crisis, it’s paramount to realize that this is a multifaceted problem, both with physical resources as well as standard and quality of water. Regardless of improvements to drinking water, many other water sources are contaminated with both bio and chemical pollutants, and over 21% of the country’s diseases are water-related.
Groundwater stress: Groundwater stress has reached a "critical" stage in many parts of India, where farmers and villagers are drilling illegal boreholes to dig deeper to access the water. These wells are increasingly causing the ground to sink as the Geological Survey of India confirmed. The situation has become so dire that in some areas, poor harvests can no longer be blamed on erratic weather or monsoon failure; instead, reports of groundwater depletion often go hand-in-hand with economic losses.
The government of India, in a move to tackle the problem of fast depleting groundwater resources in the country, has planned on introducing a new groundwater conservation scheme called the Atal Bhujal Yojana (ABY). The new scheme encourages water conservation with regard to agricultural and industrial water use.
Recharge of groundwater resources: It can be achieved through various methods like sustainable water use practices, promotion and use of ground water-compatible plants along with the use of drip irrigation, adoption of micro watershed development strategy, the introduction of more efficient and reliable water pumping machinery. The program is expected to lay emphasis on the recharge of groundwater resources and better exploitation of the groundwater resources.
Behavioural change: The scheme aims to arrest the rate of decline of groundwater levels in the country and also bring about behavior changes among various stakeholders. The scheme will focus on ‘region’ as well as ‘function’: Groundwater conservation at the ‘region’ level whereas groundwater recharge, water management, and command area development at the ‘function’ level.
Community participation: The Atal Bhujal Yojana envisages community-led Water Security Plans. Thus it envisages involving people and make a water conservation effort with the involvement of people at the local level. It envisages active participation of communities in various activities such as: Monitoring and disseminating ground water data; Formation of Water User Associations; Preparation/implementation of gram panchayat-wise water security plans; Information, Education and communication (IEC) activities, relating to sustainable groundwater.
Institutional Strengthening and Capacity Building: The mission aims to strengthen the institutional arrangements for sustainable groundwater management in States by providing financial and expert support through Commissions, Committees, and Water Users Forums.
Cooperative federalism: State governments and the Implementation Authorities would be advised to work in close collaboration with each other to ensure synergy of approach towards groundwater conservation, effective identification of recharge areas, putting in place an efficient ‘groundwater governance’ framework for management practices, encouraging deep and shallow percolation ponds covering recharge areas, etc.
Rain catchment programs: The water crisis is one of the major unexpected issues to face in any country. In recent times, people have realized the potential of water and are planning for rain catchment systems that can store water for meeting future demands.
Drip irrigation: Agriculture, the largest consumer of water often ends up using more than eighty percent of all accessible water. A method of dry farming called Drip irrigation is used in sustainable agricultural practices. This method ensures the best availability of water for crops and also reduces water wastage by using only the required amount of water.
Long-term planning: The long-term plan should incorporate a recharge check, to stop the extraction of groundwater during marginal and lean conditions in a year. Through this, lake reserves could be created and agricultural use practicality would be increased.
Awareness: Public awareness needs to spread. The issue must be made mainstream, and it should become a social concern. The citizens need to realize that they’re using groundwater that will not be replenished. Once the public is aware of such dangers, they will act to shift their consumption patterns and precipitate a behavioral change when it comes to water use. If this doesn’t happen, the problem of water scarcity will haunt India for generations.
