Water Shortage in India: Causes and Solutions

There is huge scarcity of drinking water on the earth. Cap-town city of South Africa had only few days’ water left. In many cities of India too there is huge gap in demand and supply of water. It has been predicted that 21 cities of India including Delhi, Bangalore, Hyderabad and Chennai will run out of ground water in near future. People around 100 million will be effected by this water crisis. Now a day’s fight for water is very common between the states. For example, Tamilnadu and Karnataka have “Kaveri river dispute”. Dispute in Haryana and Delhi etc. Stories of tankar mafia became issue in Delhi elections too. Dispute between India & Pakistan on Sindhu river water also becomes election issue sometimes.

Approx.71% of earth’s surface is covered with water. Question may arise that if there is 71% earth is covered with water then how there may be shortage? Actually 96.5% water is in ocean which is not usable for household purpose. Only 3.5% is available in form of rivers, lakes, icecaps in glaciers and ground water which may be used for drinking and irrigation purposes.

Main reason of scarcity of drinking water is climate change. If we compare average rain fall presently with 40 years back, then things will be clear. In those days’ monsoon period was quite long. There was greenery in villages and there were number of pounds. In those days’ people’s life was more dependent on natural resources. Most of peoples were living in Kaccha houses. To make kaccha houses they extract mud from earth and left pit/pounds open which became natural source to storage rain water. Level of ground water was also quite up. After rise in population life style also changed. Rapid urbanization and industrialization led to rapid extraction of natural resources. Consumption of water increased manifold. Being a developing country we need water for its increasing population and economy. It is being projected that water demand in India is going to be as high as 24% by 2025 and 74% by 2050.

Now question arises what is solution of this problem? One point is clear that we cannot manufacture water in factories to survive. We have to take preventive steps to control this problem. Few such steps are given below-

1)    Rain water harvesting. Presently most of the rain water runs off. If this rain water is collected from surfaces on which rain falls and after filtering it is redirected to deep pits, then this water may be used for different purposes. Rainwater harvesting puts the supply of water back to normal levels. This practice is followed in few parts of India specially in case of the Birkha Bawari in Jodhpur, Rajasthan located in the Umaid heritage site in a residential complex area. The Bawari structure stores rainwater and simultaneously act as a recreational space for inhabitants. It is an excellent example of conserving rainwater. Further it would be correct to quote here example of Mr Rajendra Singh (water man of India) who gave life to many rivers. Our Company Dhanuka Agritech Ltd is also educating farmers for rain water harvesting at large scale. DAL have made many check dams in Rajasthan.

2)    Judicious use of water. Presently we have become habituated to RO water. An average RO wastes at least 3 times qty which it cleans. For example, if you have consumption of 5 liters in a day then RO system will waste 15 liter of water to clear 5 liters. It is suggested to use this RO waste water in cleaning the clothes, dishes, toilets, & floors too. It may be used in car washing and bathing also. Do not use running taps at the time of shaving/ brushing the teeth. Wash vegetables & Fruits in bowls rather than washing under running taps. Install a water-saving toilet. Many organisations like RSS, Sathya Sai Seva Organisation etc are working on this problem at their level. Our company Dhanuka Agritech Ltd is also working through mass communication on TV and social media in educating people to save water.

3)    Using water efficient varieties of crops to minimize the water consumption. For example, rice and wheat alone uses 70% of total water used in irrigation. Other crops also need to be promoted which use lesser water in plantation. Drip irrigation systems deliver water directly to a plant's roots, reducing the evaporation that happens with spray watering systems. So dripping irrigation system need to be encouraged.

4)    Improve tree plantations.  One of reason for low rain fall is deforestation. Trees play a great role in rainfall. By increasing plantation rainfall may be improved. In our society we have planted more than 1000 plants in this monsoon season under leadership of Mr Yogesh Rawat. Our company Dhanuka Agritech Ltd have arranged plantation of 5 plants on behalf of each employee.

5)    Use of river water. Our country has diversified geographies. In one part we face drought problem and simultaneously in another part we face heavy rainfall. Means water shortage in one part and excess water in another part. By connecting the rivers this problem may be controlled to some extent. Govt. too have adopted some projects but their speed is quite slow. Although it is very costly still need to be explored.

Water is precious resource. We cannot expect life without water. We have to save this resource for future generations too. So let’s do not be selfish and start working to save it. Good Luck.