How water is wasting in India?
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1 Weak Monsoons
A deficiency in monsoon rainfall for two successive years resulted in serious water shortages in many states. The monsoon season last year ended in September with a 14% rain deficit, while the deficit in 2014 stood at 12%, according to the India Meteorological Department. India gets 75% of its annual rain in the monsoon that runs from June through September. The rains usually spread across the entire country by mid-July after arriving over the southern state of Kerala in early June.
Close to 60% of the country’s farmlands are rain-fed and more than half of the workforce is employed in the agriculture sector.
2 Thirsty Crops
Excessive cultivation of water-intensive crops such as rice, wheat and sugar cane has exacerbated the water scarcity. As much as 70% of water delivered through India’s limited irrigation infrastructure goes to water sugar cane fields in some states. It’s no accident that the sugar-producing states of Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh have been among hardest hit by the water shortage.
Producing a kilogram of sugar cane requires up to 5,000 liters of water, according to the World Wide Fund for Nature. Promoting cultivation of less water-thirsty crops such as barley could help, said Himanshu, an associate professor of economics at New Delhi’s Jawaharlal Nehru University who uses only one name.
3 Fallen Forests
Massive deforestation since the 1990s has had a huge bearing on the South Asian monsoon, causing an 18% decline in precipitation over India, according to a study published in the Proceedings of National Academy of Sciences last year.
4 Rain Water Wasted
Rain water harvesting is patchy in India so much of the huge amount of water dumped on the country during the monsoon every year just dries up or flows into the ocean.
Rain water harvesting tries to capture and store more of the rain water in lakes and ponds and steer it towards ground water aquifers.
In 2009 India’s Central Ground Water Authority asked Indian states to adopt rooftop rain water harvesting systems in government institutions. The Indian government gives financial help for such projects but just 18 of 29 states have so far adopted the practice.
5 Pitiful water
New Delhi’s policies are also to blame for the country’s chronic water issues. Its subsidies and price supports encourage the over use of water while it continues to fail to build the nationwide network needed to conserve and distribute water.
The government should “ramp up infrastructure to swiftly store rain water,” Prof. Himanshu said. Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s “imperative responsibility is to quickly assist those suffering from the drought.”
A deficiency in monsoon rainfall for two successive years resulted in serious water shortages in many states. The monsoon season last year ended in September with a 14% rain deficit, while the deficit in 2014 stood at 12%, according to the India Meteorological Department. India gets 75% of its annual rain in the monsoon that runs from June through September. The rains usually spread across the entire country by mid-July after arriving over the southern state of Kerala in early June.
Close to 60% of the country’s farmlands are rain-fed and more than half of the workforce is employed in the agriculture sector.
2 Thirsty Crops
Excessive cultivation of water-intensive crops such as rice, wheat and sugar cane has exacerbated the water scarcity. As much as 70% of water delivered through India’s limited irrigation infrastructure goes to water sugar cane fields in some states. It’s no accident that the sugar-producing states of Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh have been among hardest hit by the water shortage.
Producing a kilogram of sugar cane requires up to 5,000 liters of water, according to the World Wide Fund for Nature. Promoting cultivation of less water-thirsty crops such as barley could help, said Himanshu, an associate professor of economics at New Delhi’s Jawaharlal Nehru University who uses only one name.
3 Fallen Forests
Massive deforestation since the 1990s has had a huge bearing on the South Asian monsoon, causing an 18% decline in precipitation over India, according to a study published in the Proceedings of National Academy of Sciences last year.
4 Rain Water Wasted
Rain water harvesting is patchy in India so much of the huge amount of water dumped on the country during the monsoon every year just dries up or flows into the ocean.
Rain water harvesting tries to capture and store more of the rain water in lakes and ponds and steer it towards ground water aquifers.
In 2009 India’s Central Ground Water Authority asked Indian states to adopt rooftop rain water harvesting systems in government institutions. The Indian government gives financial help for such projects but just 18 of 29 states have so far adopted the practice.
5 Pitiful water
New Delhi’s policies are also to blame for the country’s chronic water issues. Its subsidies and price supports encourage the over use of water while it continues to fail to build the nationwide network needed to conserve and distribute water.
The government should “ramp up infrastructure to swiftly store rain water,” Prof. Himanshu said. Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s “imperative responsibility is to quickly assist those suffering from the drought.”
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