India suffering from worst water crisis in history, millions of lives under threat: Niti Aayog's Water Management Index

NEW DELHI: India is suffering from the worst water crisis in its history and millions of lives and livelihoods are under threat, the Niti Ayog said on Thursday. Currently, 600 million Indians face high to extreme water stress and about two lakh people die every year due to inadequate access to safe water, said the NITI Aayog report on Composite Water Management Index (CWMI) released on Thursday. The report found that 75 per cent of Indian households do not have drinking water on premise, 84 per cent rural households do not have piped water access and 70 per cent of the water is contaminated. It said that "40 per cent of the population will have no access to access drinking water by 2030", while 21 cities, including "New Delhi, Chennai, and Hyderabad, will run out of ground water by 2020, affecting 100 million people". India is currently ranked 120 among 122 countries in the water quality index. "The total availability of water possible in country is still lower than this projected demand. Thus, there is an imminent need to deepen our understanding of our water resources and usage and put in place interventions that make our water use efficient and sustainable." "..if nothing changes, and fast, things will get much worse," it said. By 2030, the country’s water demand is projected to be twice the available supply, implying severe water scarcity for hundreds of millions of people and an eventual 6% loss in the country’s GDP by 2050, the report stated. Critical groundwater resources – which account for 40% of our water supply – are being depleted at unsustainable rates, it added. Niti Aayog has ranked all states through first of its kind index on the composite water management, comprising 9 broad sectors with 28 different indicators covering various aspects of ground water, restoration of water bodies, irrigation, farm practices, drinking water, policy and governance. The report ranks Gujarat at the top in managing its water resources in the reference year (2016-17) followed by Madhya Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Maharashtra. The worst states include Jharkhand, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh and Bihar. "The country faces significant risks as the low performers on the Water Index are home to ~50% of the country’s population and its agricultural baskets. The low performers are, worryingly, comprised of the populous northern states of UP, Bihar, Rajasthan, Haryana, and others, and are home to over 600 million people," the report said. Among North Eastern and Himalayan states, Tripura has been adjudged number one in 2016-17 followed by Himachal Pradesh, Sikkim and Assam. In terms of incremental change in index (over 2015-16 level), Rajasthan holds number one position in general states and Tripura ranks at first position amongst Northeastern and Himalayan states, the report said. According to the NITI Aayog report, Centre-state and inter-state cooperation were some of the key levers to help address the crisis. "There is an opportunity to improve Centre-state and inter-state cooperation across the broader water ecosystem. Water management is often currently viewed as a zero-sum game by states due to limited frameworks for inter-state and national management. "This has resulted in seven major disputes regarding the country's rivers, involving 11 states, as well as limited policy coordination on issues like agricultural incentives, pump electricity pricing etc," it said.