Why has the water shortage problem agitated in the post independent india?
Answers
Answer:
Water scarcity in India is due to both natural and human-made causes. Main factors that contribute to water issues include poor management of resources, lack of government attention, and man-made waste. 18 percent of the world's population which resides in India only has access to 4 percent of usable water sources. Official data in the past decade depicts how annual per capita availability of water in the country has plummeted significantly with 163 million Indians lacking access to safe drinking water. The National Institution for Transforming India (NITI Ayog), Government of India has released report ‘Composite Water Management Index ’ in June 2018 and listed Delhi and other 21 cities in India which would run out of groundwater by 2020.
Explanation:
Water sources are contaminated with both biological pollutants. 21% of the country's diseases are water-related with only 33% of the country having access to traditional sanitation. Excessive use of groundwater for irrigation in agriculture has also caused a strain in the resource. As India is one of the top agriculture producers in the world, the consumption of water for land and crops is also one of the highest. The results of the widespread use of ineffective techniques used for irrigation aligned with mismanagement are few of the reasons for the water deficit.
A significant portion of water used for industrial and domestic purposes is waste when returned to the streams. The demand for freshwater is increasing with the growing population, but the decreasing amount of supply fails to meet the needs of the people.
The increased amount of solid wastes in water systems such as lakes, canals and rivers also heavily pollute the water. To combat this problem, the government issued the Ganga Action Plan issued in 1984 to clean up the Ganges River. However, much of the river remains polluted with a high coliform count at many places. This is largely due to lack of maintenance of the facilities as well inadequate fees for service. Due to this issue, urgent need for safe drinking water is 70.1% of the households in urban areas. 18.7% in rural received organized pipe water supply and others have to depend on surface- and groundwater which is untreated. As such water is a scarce resource in India.