The worsening water situation in India has been discussed very often and in great detail, but fresh warnings keep coming out from experts and various organisations. Water scarcity is not specific to India, but it has a special relevance to the country because its per capita availability is low and is falling. According to the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF)’s latest report, about 350 million people living in 100 cities of national importance across the world are at immediate risk of a water crisis, and all of them will face a severe crisis by 2050. The report concluded that “these cities face looming scenarios of water scarcity unless urgent action is taken to mitigate and adapt to climate change”. Along with climate change, rising population is also a factor that will aggravate the crisis.
The report has named 30 Indian cities, including Bengaluru and other metropolises and Hubli-Dharwad, as very susceptible to water risk. Some of them are in the very high-risk category. The risk has been increasing in the past few decades, and the past few years have seen the situation getting more and more acute. This is because many strategies that have been planned and sought to be implemented to deal with it have not been effective. In most cases, the problem was not with the strategies and solutions but with their implementation. There is greater waywardness in the behaviour of the monsoon, groundwater resources have been depleting and conservation efforts are mostly inadequate. Each of these, and other problems, have to be handled in separate and specific ways, and every region and even locality will need its own solutions. That makes the solutions complex and difficult.
In the Indian context, the report says there is the need for a holistic framework on water management and notes how ‘Smart Cities’ as an initiative can help develop urban watersheds and wetlands to bolster freshwater conservation. It also recommends formulation of plans at a local level and inclusion of stakeholders in the development process to evolve a sustainable water conservation strategy. These are known ideas, but they need to be reiterated because the need for effective actions is getting more and more urgent. It is important to maintain and develop urban wetlands and watershed areas, implement rainwater harvesting and micro-irrigation schemes and look for conservation and wastewater reclamation plans. There is greater awareness about the importance of water now, and there is the need for action at government, community and individual levels to deal with the situation.