Water, our most abused fundamental natural resource

As India’s population and economy grow, there will be a growing need for water.

By Vikram K Malkani

Water is among the most fundamental natural resources that enable creation and sustenance of life. This imperative drove ancient civilizations to settle along rivers, meeting a core human need.

As human life has grown over millennia, water has become a resource needed not just for life and health but for economic development as well. Indeed, any nation’s social and economic development is critically dependent on adequate availability of water.

Correlating socioeconomic development with availability of water

The government aspires to make India a developed country by 2047, the 100th year of our independence. According to the Economic Survey 2024-25, India can realise this aspiration by growing annually at 8 percent for the next two decades. ‘Developed economy’ status will translate to India having per capita income of $18,000, up from the current $2400.

There’s much India needs to do to realise this aspiration. And among the most fundamental natural resources any country needs is water. As India’s population and economy grow, there will be a growing need for water.

Source: World Bank

The above chart shows the per capita GDP trend of several countries, highlighting the period when some achieved a GDP of $18,000 – India’s aspiration for the late 2040s. During this period these countries were consuming more water than India has since decades on average, which underscores the correlation between economic development and per capita water consumption. It is also worth noting that over an extended period India’s usage of water has not changed much, even as the population and the economy have grown tremendously, highlighting growing water stress.

Source: Processed by Our World in Data.

India’s ambition to become a developed country entails focussed growth across established and emerging industries. India also needs an education and training industry that evolves in step with all industries requiring skilled people. Even as India needs to enable the growth environment with continued legal reforms, adequate and reliable power supply, and a logistics network for cost-effective transportation, it needs to be able to provide water to every enterprise, large and small, formal and informal, as well as every self-employed individual.

India’s cultivable land may not grow over time. But a growing population and improving living standards will exert more pressure on the agriculture industry to produce more. Agriculture – already the biggest consumer of water – will need more every year than it did in the previous one.

But before its need for sustenance and growth of economic activities, at a fundamental level water is needed by every individual for survival and good health. Here too, the correlation between life expectancy and health with availability of water stands out, with India lagging behind developed countries in health parameters.

Source: World Health Organization

Low living standards today result in low water consumption at individual level. As India rises economically, the need, and indeed, demand for water will grow steadily for individuals’ consumption.

India’s present water availability

India supports 18 percent of human population from just 4 percent of the world’s fresh water sources. Unsurprisingly, much of the country is already categorised as ‘water stressed’. Average per capita water availability for 2021 was 1468 cubic metres, and is estimated to fall to 1367 cubic metres in 2031.

Source: Niti Aayog

Rivers are among the main sources of usable water on earth. Brazil, China, Indonesia, India and United States are among countries having large river networks by country size. The first four are developing countries, aspirational of economic growth and higher standards of living. But the comparison of population densities of these countries indicates the much higher pressure for water and other natural resources in India today and in coming years. Pollution in many Indian rivers further complicates the situation.

Source: World Bank

Geopolitics too is playing its part in increasing water stress in the country. The Indus Water Treaty (IWT), signed in 1960 between India and Pakistan, disproportionately benefits the latter. This has contributed to Jammu and Kashmir facing water scarcity. China’s newest dam – the biggest in the world – is being built on Yarlung Tsangpo (Brahmaputra) close to the India-China border. Once operational it could impact availability of water in India’s North-Eastern states which at present are among the few regions of India having above 1700 cubic metres of water per capita, i.e. not water stressed.

Rainwater, the cleanest source of water, cannot be relied upon each year and for every district simply because rainfall across the country is not consistent, nor adequate in many parts. Rainwater harvesting will provide limited leverage in drought prone regions. While on the rise, harvesting is also constrained by storage and supply infrastructure.

Steps taken towards water security

The government has launched significant initiatives to improve the country’s water security. It has set up the National Water Mission, mandated with developing the broad framework for ensuring integrated water resource management to conserve water, minimise wastage and ensure equitable distribution of water within and between states. The Department of Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation, created within the Ministry of Jal Shakti, is tasked with defining policies and programmes for water conservation and management.

Initiatives overseen by this department include rainwater harvesting, strengthening existing dams, flood forecasting, groundwater and river basin management, water management over rivers shared with neighbouring countries, conducting research and providing education on efficient water usage and conservation. In addition, it is focussed on cleaning and maintaining Ganga waters.

At over 2500 kms length, Ganga is the country’s longest river. Population density along its basin stands at 520 people/sq. km, against the national average of 312 people – indicating the direct dependence of a large percentage of the country’s population on this river. Like other rivers in the country, over several decades it has gotten increasingly polluted. While attempts have been made in the past to clean the river and prevent further pollution, it has been taken up more seriously by the present government. Its Namami Gange programme aims to clean the river’s waters and prevent further pollution. In parallel, central and state governments continue to invest in National River Conservation Plan (NRCP), aimed at checking pollution in several rivers across the country.

Interlinking rivers, the most transformative approach yet

Even as various initiatives are progressing, India is trying to renegotiate in its favour the IWT, which has thus far uniquely disadvantaged India. But the most transformative initiative for improving India’s water security is the one interlinking its rivers. Conceived 45 years ago, for a country where yearly drought and floods occur during the same season, interlinking rivers is the silver bullet for India’s water woes. It is also daunting in terms of high level and detailed planning, implementation costs, partnership between central and state governments, cooperation between state governments, negotiating with impacted populations, relocation management, efficient implementation on the ground and ongoing risk management. This initiative, which will contribute to transforming India’s socioeconomic landscape, has so far progressed mostly with just paperwork. Had it been prioritised soon after conception, both floods and drought over the last few decades would have had reduced impacts, or may not have occurred at all.

With a population of 140 crore, a considerable amount of wastewater is generated from domestic, commercial and industrial use. Much of this flows into water bodies or into the ground, thereby polluting sources of water. This offers a tremendous opportunity for fulfilling the country’s water needs by treating wastewater. Very importantly, treatment will prevent ongoing pollution of water bodies and groundwater. A growing number of states have independently taken steps such as mandating self-contained sewage treatment plants within residential and commercial complexes.

In 2022 the government evolved the framework for safe reuse of treated water for non-potable purposes, intended to standardise understanding of water treatment and to promote this practice across the country. The framework specifies state-level timebound milestones for 100 percent collection and 100 percent treatment of used water. Since provision of water is a responsibility of state governments, defining policies and their implementation need to be taken up by them. While some states commenced this journey before this framework was defined, they need to align their policies and goals with it. Many other states haven’t commenced this journey yet. This should be high priority even for states having sufficient water so that pollution of their water bodies can be controlled.

In parallel, the central government has run a variety of initiatives for river rejuvenation, encompassing wastewater management, biodiversity conservation, community involvement, and celebrating clean rivers.

The mainland has a 7870 kms long coastline, providing India an abundant resource for seawater. Although desalination costs are higher than purifying groundwater or wastewater, the country’s need for water is too great for governments to shy away from this option. India has already commenced this journey, with states like Tamil Nadu and Gujarat having had a head start over other coastal states.

As important as making India water sufficient, is for the government to be able to supply water to consumers. The most deprived section of India in this regard is its rural population. In 2019 the government launched Jal Jeeval Mission (JJM), which was to provide water on tap to every rural Indian household. Combined with adequate availability of water across India, JJM will contribute to improving India’s health parameters.

With high population density in the cities, the government has also run Atal Mission for Rejuvenation & Urban Transformation (AMRUT) covering all aspects of water infrastructure and water management in 500 cities across the country.

Provision of water is a state government responsibility. But the central government too is closely involved in strategizing and funding water initiatives across the country. For these initiatives to succeed, central and state governments’ efforts must complement each other. Equally importantly, the quantifiable outcome of each initiative must be estimated by domain experts.

The measure of collective success of governments’ initiatives is to make available to the population the estimated amount of water by district and by year. While high level progress dashboards exist, a view that tells the public how much per capita water to expect by district in the coming years, if created, is not in the public domain. From political parties’ perspective, making this information public, and living up to commitments made, is likely to win more electoral support than by doling out an increasingly scarce resource free of cost to some while not recognising the core issue of water shortage.

(Vikram K Malkani is a freelance writer specializing in data-driven analysis of India's socioeconomic landscape. His handle in X is @vikramkmalkani.)

Views are personal, and do not represent the stand of this publication.