In the past 60 years, per capita availability of water, an indicator of water scarcity, has plummeted 70% in India to 1,544 cubic meters per year. (This makes India “water stressed,” a step before “water scarce,” for which the cut-off point is 1,000 cubic meters per capita). On an annual basis, only 60% of India’s available water, which largely comes from rainfall, can be put to “beneficial use.” Better water storage could address this. While in India per capita water storage stands at 213 cubic meters, in the U.S. this figure is 1,960 and in Australia it is 4,700.
And the future is not looking promising either. Without policy intervention, it is estimated that by 2050, water demand per capita in India is predicted to grow 30% from what it is today. A lot of this has to do with climate change, a growing population and a booming economy. “It is evident that only the adoption of better governance practices and enhanced efficiency would reduce this demand,” said Mr. Ansari.
Mr. Khurshid’s words on this were not very comforting. He started off by laying out what his department, the Ministry of Water Resources, is really responsible for. Water management, he said, was not part of it. This was up to state departments and municipalities, rather than to the central government, which just financed it. The conflict between periphery and center, and the lack of cooperation between states, he said, was a key reason for the country’s poor record in water management.
He hoped new legislation would enhance the central government’s power in this area. Among other things, this may make it easier for water to be transferred from so-called “water surplus” regions to “deficit” ones, without individual states hoarding it for themselves. He also hinted that all sources of water–including those found on private grounds–may one day become public property. The key area of focus for policymakers will be agriculture: irrigation accounts for about 85% of the country’s water consumption. This means cropping patterns may have to change, too.