Water Crisis: An Overview.

Author: Mr. Abhishek Naharia, RGNUL, Patiala

Is this a Recent Issue?

The administration for a country like India where problems have been increasing day after day, the issue of the water crisis has been into the picture for decades. This had come into effect after India ft ground reports of the cities that my dry in India before the beginning next decade. The reports film but before 2020 many of the cities mango dry while there are many in the line rich almost on the verge of the water crisis. The environmental crisis in India is not something that the citizens are unheard of, Dadar Samsung time the people have become habitual of similar deficiencies in the natural resources. Way back when we were kids 2000’s we used to hear that problems like global warming and water crisis good and grass India in the next few years and we had lessons about that in our books. Things can go verses nobody ever thought of that. That till the time our future generation comes on Earth who had thought that they would have to pay for breathing in the fresh air and drinking potable water. The water crisis of India makes one thing very clear which is that despite the efforts of the government and the administration, till the time people don’t take up the issues such as this one, the problem hardly looks to go away. 

What factors contribute?

That on one hand we have the natural factors such as increasing global warming and huge amounts of saline water in the major water resources playing a big role in the water crisis, on the other hand, we have the human factor undoubtedly playing a bigger role towards the water crisis. The condition is such that people who have access to potable water are not worrying about saving it whereas people who not have access to fresh drinking water could hardly do anything to save such water. Amongst these 2 factors that we have which contribute towards the depleting groundwater levels, the human factor that we see can be controlled. As it could be seen that the human population is also responsible in a direct manner to affect the natural factor such as the increasing groundwater level, but at the same time it could also be seen that the human factors can control both factors partially. What comes as a surprise is that today neither is human controlling the human factors and nor is he aiding in the control of the natural factors. 

Restoring water bodies.

The ministry of water resources has every now and then tried to bring outlaws and schemes regarding the water conservation but the fact that remains true to all of us is that even the officials who had these organizations are unable to comprehend where the resources I am going, that is even after having spent billions and trillions of money on water management and its purification, the level of groundwater scenes to go down drastically day after day. That their needs to be a proper audit on where the water is coming and where is it going because the water is used for various purposes such as agricultural practices and thus a comprehensive framework needs to be made soon for the same. Within a year Delhi, Bangalore, Chennai, and 18 other cities might run out of Groundwater. The report by the NITI Aayog says so. This is to affect around 100 million people and that 40% of India’s population will not have access to drinking water by 2030.

What new is the Govt. planning?

The Government had brought in the Jal Ministry under which comprehensive plans are being made. The new framework is to take place by the Union Government along with the aid of the State Government. As of today, only the State Government of Maharashtra has a similar law into place, and that through this plan all of the States are to appoint such Regulatory Authority. Water Audits would be an essential part of the Regulatory Framework, and we are all sure that under the aegis of Gajendra Singh Shekhawat the Ministry will do wonders. The Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced a ‘Jal Jeevan Mission’ in this year’s budget to provide potable water to every rural household by 2024. That it needs to be taken into consideration that the groundwater might get completely consumed very soon and steps need to be taken accordingly.