#EarthDay: Water Crisis Staring In The Eye; Is India Headed To A ‘Day Zero’?

South Africa’s Cape Town has been in news for a long time now owing to the water crisis in the city. It is said that the city is headed for “day zero”, a situation when all the water taps in the city would run dry. An alarming situation, the city has suffered a draught-like situation since 2015. A city like Cape Town, that is known to be one of the key financial hubs of the country, housing many corporates and other businesses, a “day zero” situation may lead to an end of the otherwise prosperous city.

This alarming situation may soon be headed towards India, too. According to a recent report published in The Guardian, the shrinking reservoirs in countries, including India, Morocco, Iraq and Spain, could lead to the water taps running dry here. The study is based on a new early warning satellite system.

The report shows that of the world's 500,000 dams, shrinking reservoirs in India, Morocco, Iraq and Spain could be the cause of the next "day zero".

A report presented by the Central Ground Water Board (CGWB) also highlights that 61 per cent of groundwater levels in the country has declined during the period from 2007 to 2017. The major factors responsible for the crisis include burgeoning population leading to a clear demand-supply gap, rapid urbanization, industrialization and inadequate rainfall.

The recent uproars

In India, water-related agitations have been ongoing for long now. But, some of the recent ones show the level at which the crisis has deepened. This inclused the protest against the allocation of water for two reservoirs connected by the Narmada river; the falling level of the upstream of Indira Sagar Dam in Madhya Pradesh due to poor rainfall and the impact of this on the downstream of the Sardar Sarovar reservoir. The Indira Sagar Dam and Sardar Sarovar reservoir are used to supply drinking water to over 30 million people. Last month, the Gujarat state government halted irrigation and appealed to farmers not to sow crops.

Taking a cue from Cape Town

While, on one hand, the water level is depleting at an alarming speed in India,  on the other hand, in November last year, the government had set a goal to provide 90 per cent of rural households with piped water by 2022.

This is only close to possible if some strong measures are taken to conserve and use this depleting resource better.

Take a cue from Cape Town. Although April 2018 was set as the time when ‘day zero’ hits the city, it has now been pushed to 2019. The city has put to use various water saving measures and water supply augmentation to reduce its daily consumption by more than half. The city now consumes 500 million litres per day.