Water, not politics or interest rates: India's economy is at jeopardy

 

 

 4/7/2024,

Lack of supplies is hurting Indians in both rural and urban areas, interfering with business and agriculture, increasing food prices, and raising the possibility of social unrest.

 

For almost two hours every day, community taps in the Vivekananda Camp slum, which is next to the embassy in New Delhi, provide brackish water. Each of the 1,000 residents receives an extra pail of water for cooking and drinking from tanker deliveries.

 

One hour's worth of tap water is accessible every four days in some areas of the dry state of Rajasthan, which is southwest of the Indian capital. Women and children in rural communities near Mumbai had to trek over a mile to obtain water.

 

Bengaluru, a 14 million-person IT metropolis in India, struggled with a water scarcity this year and was forced to depend on tanker supply.

 

 

Sampa Rai, 38, lives in Delhi's Vivekananda Camp and wakes up early every day to meet the first tanker providing water. "We don't wash the floor or do the laundry for days sometimes," Rai said. Not even the dishes. With what we have, we must make due."

 

The world's most populated nation has always suffered from water shortages, but the frequency of crises is increasing. For example, this year's summer has been one of the warmest on record, and the drought has been made worse by the falling water table, dried-up rivers, and lakes.

 

 

 

The shortages are affecting Indians in both rural and urban areas. They are also putting business and agriculture in jeopardy, leading to food inflation, and increasing the likelihood of social upheaval. According to government estimates, drinking tainted water causes the deaths of 200,000 Indians annually.

 Both the economy and people are hurting.

 

This makes efforts by the public and private sectors to preserve the resource more urgent, as well as to create methods of recycling waste water and lessen the nation's excessive reliance on the yearly monsoon, particularly in the agricultural sector.

 

The ratings agency Moody's issued a warning last week over the potential impact of India's increasing water stress on the country's GDP, which is expected to be the highest among major countries at 7.2% for the April–March fiscal year.

 

"Decreases in water supply can disrupt agricultural production and industrial operations, resulting in inflation in food prices and declines in income for affected businesses and workers, especially farmers, while sparking social unrest," according to Moody's.

 

 

 

This year, Vatsa added, it will also introduce a nationwide initiative at the village level that will suggest crops to farmers based on the availability of water in the area.

 

Plans to deal with the water situation have not been previously disclosed in detail.

 

In each of the 785 districts in the nation, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has already directed authorities to construct or renovate a minimum of 75 lakes. Over 83,000 lakes have either had maintenance started or finished, according to the authorities. Such lakes are said to be able to replenish the water table by experts.

 

 

In 2019, Modi announced an almost $50 billion initiative to supply tap water to every rural household. Although not all pipelines have water, locals and experts point out that the government claims to have covered 77% of the more than 193 million families that fall into this category, up from 17% five years ago.

 

"It makes the issue of conservation far more urgent," Vatsa stated. "Without water, a national pipeline of this kind could not be maintained. There will be no more pipes." Agreed that some faucets might already be dry.

 

 

Stressed water

With 1.42 billion people and a predominantly rural economy, India depends heavily on the yearly monsoon. More than 80% of the country's water is used for water-intensive crops including rice, wheat, and sugarcane.

 

Severe and harsh weather conditions are common during the monsoon itself. Much of the rainwater runs out into the sea, even during a good monsoon, because catchment areas are becoming limited due to rising development.

 

Government predictions indicate that as India's population expands, the country's annual per capita water availability, currently estimated at 1,486 cubic metres, is expected to decline to 1,367 cubic metres by 2031. Since 2011, when the per capita availability of water is less than 1,700 cubic metres, the nation has been considered to be "water stressed".

 

 

According to Depinder Singh Kapur of the Indian research organisation Centre for Science and Environment, "we have a crisis now every year."

"Earlier it used to be drought years versus normal years, now a water crisis is happening every year and with more intensity."

In certain areas, private industry is tackling the challenge.

 

The Vishvaraj Group announced that it assisted in the construction of a $100 million plant in Nagpur, a city of three million people, in 2020. The plant treats 200 million litres of sewage per day and extracts 190 million litres of treated water, which it sells to two thermal power plants.

 

 

According to the city's founder, Arun Lakhani, the fresh water that has been released will be sufficient to support the city's projected population expansion for the next 35 years.

 

To reduce their reliance on fresh water, some firms are investing in rainwater gathering and waste water recycling.

 

By 2030, Tata Steel wants to reduce the amount of fresh water it uses per tonne of crude steel produced at its factories in India to less than 1.5 cubic metres, down from the current 2.5 cubic metres. JSW Steel has such ambitions as well.

 

Nitin Bassi of the Indian think tank The Council on Energy, Environment and Water stated, "Treated waste water is going to be one important resource that we need to start acknowledging, at least to plug the gaps in urban areas."

 

Nearly 90% of the water provided to houses, according to experts, can be recycled; however, sewage treatment and water distribution infrastructure has not kept up with the expansion of large cities, and untreated waste eventually finds its way into rivers.

 

In order to increase the amount of water that is recycled and used in businesses, agriculture, and other sectors, the Modi administration is expanding the capacity for sewage treatment in urban areas, bringing the rate up from 44% currently.

 

The government has stated that it intends to spend roughly $36 billion between 2021 and 2026 to ensure fair distribution of water, reuse of waste water, and mapping of water bodies.

 

hungrier farms

According to government and industry experts, the growing of crops like rice in semi-arid areas has resulted in the widespread extraction of groundwater through borewells and sharp drops in water tables.