India on the cusp of drinking water crisis, ignoring raindrops and deteriorating situation due to falling groundwater level

 

 

There are more than two hundred rivers in the country, yet a large population is living without water

This issue is also worrying for India because after China, most people in the world live in India. The geographical position is such that despite India being surrounded by water on three sides and having more than two hundred rivers in the country, a large population is still without water and after a lot of effort, a small amount of water is arranged for daily use. able to do Ground water is the second major source of water in the country. Groundwater is water that seeps through rocks and soil and accumulates under the ground.

It is also no less surprising that the availability of water in India through rivers, ponds and groundwater is more than 2,300 billion cubic meters (2,300 Billion Cubic Meters) and the annual average rainfall is more than 100 cm, giving 4,000 billion cubic meters. Water is available, there is such a famine of water? The reason for this is that 47 percent of the rain water, ie 1,869 billion cubic meters of water, goes into the rivers.

Out of this, 1,132 billion cubic meters of water can be used, but due to lack of proper water management system and lack of awareness among people, a lot of water is wasted. If we can save it, then the water crisis can be reduced to a great extent.

High Court order for installation of rain water harvesting device is not implemented

In 2016, the Delhi High Court had given an important decision while hearing a case. The court had said that it will be mandatory for everyone, be it a house or a society, to have a rain water harvesting device. Those who do not do so will be charged a higher price of water. It was also directed by the High Court that it would be mandatory to install Rain Water Harvesting Device in the houses built on plots of 500 square meters or more. However, it is in front of everyone how much this decision was implemented under the supervision of the officers.

Four cities of India in top-20 of the world with water scarcity

Meanwhile, according to the Combined Water Management Index (CWMI) of the National Institution for Transforming India Commission (NITI- Aayog), 21 cities in the country are reaching zero level ground water. This means that there will be no water even for drinking in these cities. It mainly includes Chennai, Delhi, Bangalore and Hyderabad. If this is not stopped, then about ten and a half crore people living in these cities will have to face the famine of drinking water. It would be a great tragedy. This situation is not only in India. 400 cities of the world are facing shortage of drinking water. However, out of this, 4 cities in the top 20 are from India. Among these, Chennai is at first, Kolkata second, Mumbai 11th and Delhi 15th.

Eight of the ten countries that use the most groundwater in the world are in Asia and two are in North America. That is, these ten countries are using 75 percent of the earth’s groundwater. India tops this. In India, 89% of groundwater is used for farm irrigation.

Water supply and water distribution not being organized is the main reason

There is a lot of inequality at the regional level due to lack of proper water supply and water distribution in India. The requirement and availability of water per capita is also different in different cities of the country. Similarly, there is a huge disparity in consumption as well. The Indian government has fixed the water requirement of 135 liters per person per day for people living in cities, while it is only 55 liters per person per day for rural areas.

However, the World Health Organization (WHO) has a different view. According to WHO, 25 liters of water per person per day is enough. In contrast, Delhi consumes 272 liters of water per person per day. It is the highest in the world in terms of water consumption per person per day. Irregular lifestyle of people is the main reason behind such high consumption of water in the capital Delhi.

Scientists and geologists believe that due to non-recharge of land, the moisture of the ground is getting exhausted. Due to this the dryness is increasing. Methane and other gases emanating from the geological movement and organic litter in the water are also suddenly increasing the heat in the ground surface. Apart from this, the level of groundwater is going down day by day.

Agriculture is still a major means of self-employment in India and a large population is dependent on it. The groundwater level is continuously depleting due to the use of underground water from tubewells in agriculture for irrigation and the use of big motors and submersible pumps in the high-rise housing societies being built in the cities. Due to this, the possibility of getting ground water not only for drinking water but also for irrigation has increased in future.

The production of rice, cotton, wheat, maize, sugarcane and fodder in the fields consumes the maximum groundwater, but the way the groundwater level is depleting, the crisis is clearly visible on their production and production. Due to this, food crisis will not only arise in the country, industries will also start dying. The result would be migration, unemployment and mutual conflict.

Scientists and geologists believe that due to non-recharge of land, the moisture of the ground is getting exhausted. Due to this the dryness is increasing. Methane and other gases emanating from the geological movement and organic litter in the water are also suddenly increasing the heat in the ground surface. Apart from this, the level of groundwater is going down day by day.

Agriculture is still a major means of self-employment in India and a large population is dependent on it. The groundwater level is continuously depleting due to the use of underground water from tubewells in agriculture for irrigation and the use of big motors and submersible pumps in the high-rise housing societies being built in the cities. Due to this, the possibility of getting ground water not only for drinking water but also for irrigation has increased in future.

The production of rice, cotton, wheat, maize, sugarcane and fodder in the fields consumes the maximum groundwater, but the way the groundwater level is depleting, the crisis is clearly visible on their production and production. Due to this, food crisis will not only arise in the country, industries will also start dying. The result would be migration, unemployment and mutual conflict.

Measures and hopes to increase groundwater level

Well-known Sarvodaya leader and social activist and founder of Jal Gram Jakhani Uma Shankar Pandey is working in the field of water conservation and management for the last twenty years. He has done a great job of conserving water in a drought-prone region like Bundelkhand with the unique technique of “Khel pe mer med med par tree”. On behalf of the Ministry of Jal Shakti, Government of India, in the year 2019, under the National Water Award (NWA), the Minister of Jal Shakti of India, Gajendra Singh Shekhawat, under the chairmanship of the then Vice President Venkaiah Naidu, presented the award of water warrior.

He explains, “The groundwater level in our country is decreasing because we are not conserving and managing the natural rainwater to recharge it. If we leave the raindrops where they fall, they will slowly reach the ground. Due to this the groundwater level will continue to be recharged, but a large part of the rain water in the country either goes into the drains or is wasted by flowing here and there. Due to this the ground water level does not get recharged.

Water warrior Uma Shankar Pandey told about the Jakhni model, “Earlier there was water crisis in our district of Bundelkhand, Banda, Chitrakoot etc. due to severe water scarcity and rocky land. Then the Government of India used to send drinking water by goods train. Seeing this, he planted trees on the fields and started collecting rain water by the method ‘Bunds on the Fields, Trees on the Bunds’. First some people joined us in this work, later some more people joined us, in a few days the whole village and people of other villages also adopted it. Today the situation is that according to the Central Ground Water Board, the water level of Banda, a drought-prone area, has increased by one meter 38 cm. To raise the water level, which governments are spending billions of rupees, all of us villagers have done it ourselves without any government grant.

Today, under the leadership of Jakhni village, when the water level of the village was raised by stopping the rain water droplets from the traditional technique of weeds in the fields, trees on the weeds, not only did the village prosper, but the entire Banda district itself started writing a new story of prosperity. As the water level of the village increased, crops flourished in the fields, greenery was seen in the villages, when water became available to the animals, the production of milk increased, vegetables, pulses, oilseeds and paddy, wheat production increased. Due to this the standard of living of the people in the villages of the district improved, then business increased and people moved from unemployed to employment.

The team of Union ministers and water advisors of NITI Aayog came to see…

When this information reached the government level, many ministers, MPs, MLAs of central and state governments came to see this work themselves. Avinash Mishra, Water Advisor to NITI Aayog, Government of India, guided a lot in this effort. For many years, he gave technical information about which crops to plant on the ridge, which trees to plant etc. According to him, “The groundwater level of Bundelkhand has come up due to the fencing experiment, there has been a lot of improvement. Bunting is a very old method of rainwater harvesting which was getting extinct. The villagers of Jakhni have suggested a new way for human society by making it alive.

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Interesting facts about water

• Availability of water through rivers, ponds and ground water in the country 2,300 billion cubic meters

• Annual average rainfall is more than 100 cm, providing 4,000 billion cubic meters of water

• Four big cities of the country included in the world’s 400 least water cities

• India tops the world in the largest consumption of groundwater

• Per capita daily consumption of 272 liters of water in Delhi alone

• The old method of saving rain water got revitalized by the method of ‘weeds on the fields, trees on the bunds’