Gajendra Singh Shekawat concerned about India's water availability

Union Jal Shakti Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat has expressed his concerns about water scarcity. He said that if water availability continues to decline, with same pace, cities like Chennai and Bangalore would become like South African city of Cape Town which almost ran out of water for its population. He also said that a majority of population would be affected by it.

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'Chennai and Bangalore will become Cape Town' 

" way water availability has declined with increase in population if this happens at same pace and per capita, water availability keeps going down, t just Chennai and Bangalore will become Cape Town but majority of population will be affected too," Minister said. 

Rapid urbanisation and poor manment have led to cities like Bengaluru and Chennai running out of water. Citing country's poor manment, Minister said, " On an aver, India gets 1,068 mm rain and 4,000 million cubic metres of water per year through precipitation, yet it's a water-scarce country, Union minister said. Israel, which gets 100 mm rain per year, is water-abundant and exporting resource."

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'Problem began when we started considering ourselves owners of natural resources'

He also asserted water manment is a responsibility and said people here talk about rights more than responsibility. "In India, people talk more about rights and less about responsibilities... government is certainly responsible, but it's also responsibility of people and industry," he said.  Minister furr reminded that resources are t owned by us, "Problem began when we started considering ourselves owners of natural resources," Minister said.

Emphasising need to conserve water and recharge aquifers, minister said India is most Groundwater dependent country in world, however, India's total water retention is below 300 million cubic metres. 

Overexploitation of Groundwater has led to problems of groundwater manment in India. deterioration of groundwater quality by pollution and or means is ar major issue. According to Composite Water Manment Index (CWMI) report released by Niti Aayog in 2018, 21 major cities (Delhi, Bengaluru, Chennai, Hyderabad and ors) are racing to reach zero groundwater levels by 2020, affecting access for 100 million people.  CWMI report also states that by 2030, country's water demand is projected to be twice available supply, implying severe water scarcity for hundreds of millions of people. 

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(With ncy inputs)