Several villages in central Maharashtra are fighting one of the worst droughts since 1972. Water security is widely recognised as one of the major challenges to India’s economic and social development. The nation’s average annual rainfall is extremely abundant by global standards, yet much of this rain falls in relatively brief deluges during the monsoon and there is great disparity across different regions. The combination of these climatic conditions with a range of man-made pressures has driven India’s farmers, households, and industry to increasingly depend on groundwater rather than surface water in rivers and lakes. But this dependence is leading to a rapid and very worrying deterioration in the nation’s groundwater resources, a deterioration that is underlined by current events.
Groundwater is the second largest reserve of freshwater on earth. Groundwater is a critical resource in India, accounting for over 65% of irrigation water and 85% of drinking water supplies.
Groundwater crisis is not the result of natural factors; it has been caused by human actions. During the past two decades, the water level in several parts of the country has been falling rapidly due to an increase in extraction. The number of wells drilled for irrigation of both food and cash crops have rapidly and indiscriminately increased. India’s rapidly rising population and changing lifestyles has also increased the domestic need for water. The water requirement for the industry also shows an overall increase.
Intense competition among users – agriculture, industry, and domestic sectors – is driving the groundwater table lower. The quality of groundwater is getting severely affected because of the widespread pollution of surface water. Besides, discharge of untreated waste water through bores and leachate from unscientific disposal of solid wastes also contaminates groundwater, thereby reducing the quality of fresh water resources.
An uncontrolled use of the bore well technology has led to the extraction of groundwater at such a high rate that often recharge is not sufficient. The causes of low water availability in many regions are also directly linked to the reducing forest cover and soil degradation.
