VOL. NO.

1 January, 2017
December, 2016
Water Scarcity-A Looming Crisis for the Next Generation

A Problem with no Defined Solution

In a residential area in greater Kolkata, an old man was sitting on a sofa deeply engrossed in a
thought. The wrinkles on his forehead got even more prominent in the last two days in concerns
of providing water for his family. The groundwater in that region had depleted so much that even
a 240 meter deep pipe was not enough to extract water from that level. He had never thought in
his wildest dreams that the area which was once water abundant, would face such a grave water
crisis so soon.
It is not only he; most of the households in that region are facing the similar problems. The
mounting population pressure and a soft drink plant in the area are to blame for this crisis.

Crisis: It’s Origination

One of the biggest problems which India is facing in

Population Pressure
this century is water crisis. A situation of water crisis
arises when the availability of water is less than its Increased Demand for food
demand in the region. With an increasing population, Increased Demand for Water
this problem is going to be more acute in the future.
Water Scarcity
However, since independence, the government has (if supply < demand)
focused on economic development and food security,
ignoring the need for water management and
conservation to sustain growth. A lack of proper
management policies and awareness among general
public has therefore created an impression that water
can be extracted from the ground in any amount. This
has resulted in rapid depletion of ground water level.
With water being assumed as a natural resource with
abundant supply, it comes as no surprise that in India, Source: http://awdnews.com/top-news/new-research-
4-billion-people-are-facing-severe-water-scarcity
issues like water legislation, water reuse and
conservation, and planned use of water did not get
proper attention.

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VOL. NO. 1 January, 2017
December, 2016
A graphical representation of water on
Earth shows that only 2.5% of the
Earth's water is freshwater. Out of
which only a fraction is exploitable for
human use. Other 97.5% is saline water
and is unusable unless it is processed
through expensive technologies.
Most of the freshwater (2.5%) is in the
form of icecaps and glaciers (68.7%)
and groundwater (30.1%). Rest of the
fresh water is in the form of surface

water (1.2%). It implicates that icecaps and glaciers have the 1.72% of fresh water reserve
out of total Earth’s water. Similarly, groundwater and surface water is only 0.75% and 0.03%
respectively with comparison to total water available on Earth. We mainly rely on the ground
water and surface water for all of our activities. Cumulatively it is around 0.78% of the
Earth’s total water reserve.

So far, we have presented some facts on the supply side in a broader aspect. A closer look at
the Indian perspective reveals that, by the year of 2025, India needs to increase its water
withdrawal rates from 25% to 100% based on location. At present, India has about 4% of the
Earth’s total freshwater reserve. Yet there is already scarcity of water at different places due
to geographical and environmental aspects. For example, 19 districts of Rajasthan face
draught like situation due to short spell of monsoon coupled with erratic behavior and scanty
rainfall for its geographical position. This scarcity will be further exacerbated with rapid
depletion of the groundwater table due to unaccounted and unplanned usage. Worst hit areas
will be the places which are already going through drought like situations. A big thing to
worry!!!

The increased use of water like flushed toilets, washing machine are all aggravating the
already existing problem of supplying potable water to the households. Setting up of
industries with heavy water demand in developing countries is also a matter of concern.
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VOL. NO. 1 January, 2017
December, 2016
Impact of Water Scarcity
Water is mainly required for agricultural and industrial
.
production and domestic consumption. It is also used for
hydro-power generation, fishery and maintaining an
environmental balance within aquatic ecosystems.
Therefore, water crisis will not only affect these sectors, it
will also have a profound impact on the quality of life of
people. Are we heading towards a
water war?

As the supply of water falls short of demand, India will face a series of problems like food
shortage. It will also give birth to interstate and international conflict. We already have faced
conflicts regarding water distribution of rivers both within and outside the country.

Responsibility towards Society:

According to The United Nations World Water Development Report 2016, some of the places
of India fall under Economic water scarcity zone and some under Physical water scarcity zone
as depicted in the above picture by CAWMA (2007, Map 2.1. p. 63)
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VOL. NO. 1 January, 2017
December, 2016

The definition (given below the picture mentioned above) of

those zones suggests that some of the places in India are water
abundant and has sustainable water resources. But there are
some places where usage of natural water resources are very
high and will face water scarcity over time.
The mounting population pressure with speedy depletion of
groundwater is driving the country to a situation of a water

crisis, which if not taken care of will not only affect the economic growth of the country but
also create domestic instability. Of late, the Government is taking various steps to prevent the
crisis. But finally the real efforts of conserving water should come from us. The future crisis
can be averted if we have the policies to convince the people to change their lifestyles. We
often talk about sustainable development which means development that meets the needs of the
present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. Even
in our real life, we are always concerned with the comfort of our children. But when it comes
to society at large, we show very little responsibility towards our future generation. The lack of
patience and the absence of conscience in ourselves impede us from controlling ourselves to
use these resources indiscriminately. Considering the fact that other resources still have some
substitutes, but water as such does not have any, should not we be responsible enough to use
this resource judiciously and efficiently and save it for our next generation?

References:
 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Water_scarcity

 http://www.waterworld.com/articles/print/volume-15/issue-9/case-studies/un-report-

predicts-water-crisis.html

 http://environment.nationalgeographic.com/environment/freshwater/freshwater-crisis/

 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Water_resources

 https://www2.usgs.gov/water/

 The United Nations World Water Development Report 2016 on WATER AND JOBS

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