Rethinking water governance strategies

GS-III: Rethinking water governance strategies.

Context

India’s severe ‘water crisis is in the news recently. India’s cities are running out of water. Chennai witnessed the worst drinking water woes.

Facts

Niti Aayog’s report ‘Composite Water Management Index: A tool for water management’ stated that 21 major cities are expected to run out of groundwater as soon as 2020, affecting nearly 100 million people.
The Central Ground Water Board (CGWB) has been reporting on the increasing number of over-exploited blocks across India, labeled as the ‘dark’ category blocks. The recent annual book of CGWB has reported 1,034 units, out of the 6,584 units it monitors, as over-exploited.
CGWB’s 2013 estimates say that groundwater development in India is just about 62% of the utilizable groundwater reserves.
A recent report by the Central Water Commission and ISRO asserted that India is not yet in “water scarcity condition”, but in a “water-stressed condition”, with reducing per capita water availability.

Way ahead

Ensure adequate access to quality water, more so in urban areas where inequities over space and time are acute.
With rapid urbanization, demand cannot be met by groundwater reserves alone. Groundwater meets just 10% of Delhi’s drinking water needs. The rest is met by surface water sources transported from outside Delhi.
Water resource departments in the States are following conventional approaches to supply augmentation. They should reorient themselves and deploy demand management, conservation, and regulation strategies.
Centres and states should work towards an institutional change by building federal governance of water resources.

Source: The Hindu

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