The Big Picture - India's Water Crisis - Every Drop Counts

Maharashtra is facing a water emergency of unprecedented proportions. Following years of drought, the rivers’ currents have ebbed, water in dams and reservoirs has depleted and over-exploitation of groundwater has raised concerns over the long-term availability of water. Meanwhile media reports claim IT companies in Chennai are asking employees to work from home. The reason being they don’t have water to sustain operations. It has not rained for almost 200 days in the city and Chennai may not get sufficient rain to tide over the water crisis for the next three months. In North India, residents in the arid Thar Desert of Rajasthan are dishing out Rs 2,500 to buy 2,500 litres of water which they share with their cattle. With the threat of desertification staring Punjab in the face and the state struggling to break away from the ‘wheat-paddy’ cycle, farmers in the state are quickly adopting a five-decade-old scheme to use ‘Underground Pipeline System’ for irrigation. The union government on its part has created a Jal Shakti Ministry under a full-fledged cabinet minister to try and address the water emergency, but a lot more needs to be done. On this edition of the big picture we will analyse how grave the water crisis is and what needs to be done to deal with the problem.

Guest - Nitin Desai, Chairman, TERI,
Akhil Kumar, Joint Secretary, Ministry of Water Resources, GoI,
Prem S. Vashishtha, Former Director, Agricultural Economics Research Centre,
Chetan Chauhan, Deputy National Affairs Editor, Hindustan Times,

Anchor - Frank Rausan Pereira

[shashiketan]

Water Crisis:
- Every year 4000 BCM of rainfall - 1869 left after evaporation, 1137 bcm - actual availability
- Spacial & temporal variation
- Sparse states - Maharashtra, rajasthan, Tamilnadu
- Less pre monsoon rain
- CWC monitors 91 reservoirs - @ its 19% of its life storage
- India availability 1700 cubic ft per person which was 5000 once upon a time.

Challenges:
- No coordination among users for aquifers : In other countries: law to share aquifer
- Groundwater used for irrigation - level gone down by 100m.
- Heatwaves have increased from 17 in 1980's to 32 days now: more frequent droughts & more frequent floods
- Demand & Supply management - ever increasing population
- Interlinking long term project with challenges.
Ken Betwa almost 20 yrs but has not started, ecological concerns - Panna tiger reserve - 1/2 submerged.
Flood in Brahmaputra in monsoon but water needed in dry months - storage & transfer problems.

Way Forward:
- Bigger program on water efficiency as energy efficiency
- Setting standards for water management
- River basin authority - for sharing information among states.
- Village level - organisation to bring user together : Decentralised management by community.
PM wrote to Sarpanch for water conservation.

- Separate planning for water stressed area: parts of Maharashtra, Vidharba, Saurashtra, Chhatisgarh
- Pricing system for water: people will do more efficient use.
Water atms at Marathwada 25 paise / litre infra is key
jhuggi jhopdi - buying water now with lack of municipal water.
- Changing cropping pattern - crop diversification
- incentive based water management - high ground water availability high MSP
- Cooperation between State & Centre
- Raising awareness among different stakeholders - citizens, political class, govt.
- Aquifer planning - Groundwater mapping started recently.
- In-situ water conservation - Rain water harvesting, Check dams
- Design around water management which would address issues of land & health.
- Technology taken to farmers - water resilient crops.

Steps taken:
- Jal Shakti ministry
- States taking the lead
Mukhyamantri jal swabalamban - Rajasthan
Jal yukt shivir - Maharashtra
- Local participation: Hiware bazar success story

Water crisis is looming large & participation from all stakeholders including government, citizens, NGO's, businesses is the urgent need of hour.

[nitishsingh]

Bhai joint secretary to mains Ka answer De Rahe hai 😂😂😂

[RashmiMishra]

At my home I have insisted my parents as well as inlaws to stop wasting water and use it wisely. They understood this very well. Now I am going to warn my surroundings about this. Water crisis is a very huge issue, leave UPSC preparation just think about that day when you won't get water enough to drink. We all need to follow this individually then only we can save ourselves from the brink of extinction.

[ashokkumarkulshrestha]

very nice topic and important for water conversation ideas

[manishjoshi]

Such a important topic which needs a serious discussion. I am glad Rajya sabha tv did it's job fantastically here.

[vikastete]

Nice points made about. Keep it on....

[sandeepjindal]

There should be penalty applied to those who found wasting water in metropolitan cities, especially washing vehicles, wasting water on Holi. State government should be strict on these basic issues. It will be waters in coming future, which will decide the fate of next superpower.

[mukulmishra]

With all due respect, Joint Secretary seemed under-prepared to me. Is this me or has someone else also observed the same?

[spacemonkey]

Frank always tries to end conversation.

[sanjitsiriguppi]

Frank is one of the best hosts in India when it comes to a debate, unlike other comedians who keep yelling at other panelists.

[johnlalmuansanga]

instead of starting from the village and mobilising them, lets start from the urban. The villages needs ample supply of water for irrigation while urban is using its uninterrupted supply inefficiently. The educated "mobilised" urban should set an example first.

[anfantasy]

Solar panels can be used for central areas and similar areas with adequate sunlight to prevent water usage. Sweage treated water usage for industries. Water harvesting in socities and households. Every development infrastructure project to be done alongwith plantation.

[soniajaiswal]

very rightly said by the panel members .... govt initiatives are long terms also has technological concerns but present crisis can be much resolve through ppl awareness and participation . my neighbour always forget to switch off their motor and daily water get wasted and we used to tell them to close it . many ex like these daily i see ppl wasting water and to whatever extent i could do i try to stop them from wasting.... we all should not waste water and not let anyone else can waste water. community sharing water and preservation is the key... also some measures like charging water bill if go above set limit . if public water resources is being wasted then by croud sourcing making it reach to concern authority...

[simmithakur]

Only solution is ...pay for water just like petrol n etc ..apply this step for 5 year or 6 year thn people will come to knw water is more precious thn diamond..ya nything else ....I don y government is not taking any serious step ..y there is no awareness campaign continuously ....wat should we do to save water ...there is no planet B.wat our future generation will drink .

[AdarshKumar]

Indeed water use has been a critical issue, I urge and request all other aspirants to also contribute and lets all do our tiny bit and save water as much as we can

[arsa]

Plz flash main points like RSTV VISHESH.THANKS

[smthgsmthg]

What village he was talking about??? At 15:57

[mdshahid]

Until we pay anything for water we will not understand its importance

[AmitKumar-ywel]

Please provide in written form also for improve English.

[somthingsingh]

Bundelkhand is facing huge draught like situation this year.
People are facing to manage water their home use nd agriculture is almost nill availability of waater in manny region of area.
Well, ponds, tubewells, nd rivers of the region are getting empty..
Iff immidaite action not taken to address the prblm..a water emergency will emerge soon in region..