Water scarcity Water scarcity (closely related to water stress or water crisis) is the lack of fresh water Water resources, resources to meet the standard water demand. There are two types of water scarcity: physical or economic water scarcity. Physical water ...

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

is an ongoing water crisis that affects nearly hundreds of million of people each year. In addition to affecting the huge rural and urban population, the water scarcity in India also extensively affects the

ecosystem An ecosystem (or ecological system) consists of all the organisms and the physical environment with which they interact. These biotic and abiotic components are linked together through nutrient cycles and energy flows. Energy enters the syste ...

and

agriculture Agriculture or farming is the practice of cultivating plants and livestock. Agriculture was the key development in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created food surpluses that enabled people to ...

. India has only 4% of the world’s

fresh water Fresh water or freshwater is any naturally occurring liquid or frozen water containing low concentrations of dissolved salts and other total dissolved solids. Although the term specifically excludes seawater and brackish water, it does include ...

resources despite a population of over 1.39 billion people. In addition to the disproportionate availability of freshwater, water scarcity in India also results from drying up of

rivers A river is a natural flowing watercourse, usually freshwater, flowing towards an ocean, sea, lake or another river. In some cases, a river flows into the ground and becomes dry at the end of its course without reaching another body of wate ...

and their reservoirs in the summer months, right before the onset of the

monsoons A monsoon () is traditionally a seasonal reversing wind accompanied by corresponding changes in precipitation but is now used to describe seasonal changes in atmospheric circulation and precipitation associated with annual latitudinal oscil ...

throughout the country. The crisis has especially worsened in the recent years due to

climate change In common usage, climate change describes global warming—the ongoing increase in global average temperature—and its effects on Earth's climate system. Climate change in a broader sense also includes previous long-term changes to E ...

which results in delayed monsoons, consequently drying out reservoirs in several regions. Other factors attributed to the shortage of water in India are a lack of proper

infrastructure Infrastructure is the set of facilities and systems that serve a country, city, or other area, and encompasses the services and facilities necessary for its economy, households and firms to function. Infrastructure is composed of public and priv ...

and government oversight and unchecked

water pollution Water pollution (or aquatic pollution) is the contamination of water bodies, usually as a result of human activities, so that it negatively affects its uses. Water bodies include lakes, rivers, oceans, aquifers, reservoirs and groundwater. Water ...

. The acute shortage of water for daily needs has prompted many government and non government organizations to take stringent measures to combat the problem. The

Government of India The Government of India (ISO: ; often abbreviated as GoI), known as the Union Government or Central Government but often simply as the Centre, is the national government of the Republic of India, a federal democracy located in South Asia, c ...

has launched multiple schemes and programs, including the formation buck of an entire 'Jal Shakti' Ministry to deal with the problem. The government has also insisted on techniques such as

rainwater harvesting Rainwater harvesting (RWH) is the collection and storage of rain, rather than allowing it to run off. Rainwater is collected from a roof-like surface and redirected to a tank, cistern, deep pit (well, shaft, or borehole), aquifer, or a reservoir w ...

, water conservation and more efficient

irrigation Irrigation (also referred to as watering) is the practice of applying controlled amounts of water to land to help grow Crop, crops, Landscape plant, landscape plants, and Lawn, lawns. Irrigation has been a key aspect of agriculture for over 5,00 ...

Agriculture Agriculture or farming is the practice of cultivating plants and livestock. Agriculture was the key development in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created food surpluses that enabled people to ...

alone is responsible for 80% of the country’s water usage. Several large cities of India have experienced water shortages in recent years, with

Chennai Chennai (, ), formerly known as Madras ( the official name until 1996), is the capital city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost Indian state. The largest city of the state in area and population, Chennai is located on the Coromandel Coast of th ...

being the most prominent in 2019. The shortage of water affected the entire city of 9 million people and resulted in the closure of several hotels, restaurants and businesses. According to a report by the National Institution for Transforming India (NITI Aayog), at least 21 major Indian cities, including the capital

New Delhi New Delhi (, , ''Naī Dillī'') is the capital of India and a part of the National Capital Territory of Delhi (NCT). New Delhi is the seat of all three branches of the government of India, hosting the Rashtrapati Bhavan, Parliament House ...

will completely run out of groundwater by 2020. The report also noted that approximately 200,000 people die in India each year due to the lack of access to safe drinking water.

Impacts of water scarcity in India

People

The scarcity of water in India affects hundreds of millions of people across the country. A major portion of the population does not have a reliable and constant means of getting water for their daily needs. In June 2019, 65% of all reservoirs in India reported below-normal water levels, and 12% were completely dry. Since tap water is unavailable in many cities including some megacities such as

, residents are reliant on alternative water sources. The country has scattered public water pumps but a lot of them are located far away from cities and their water flow is intermittent and unpredictable. A lot of Indians are forced with the option of spending money to buy drinking water but the poor sections of the society are unable to afford it on a daily basis which creates a massive problem of water scarcity for the rural population of India. Limited accessibility to water is a threat to the people's health. Insufficient water has the capacity to deteriorate the health of an entire city in times of a water crisis. In the city of

Latur Latur(लातूर) is a city in Indian state of Maharashtra, and is one of the largest cities of the Marathwada region. It is the administrative headquarters of Latur district and Latur Taluka. The city is a tourist hub surrounded by many ...

, the depletion of more than 90% of water sources resulted in a major health crisis and people were forced to dig borewells into the ground, exposing themselves to dangerous chemicals and risking contamination. Some local residents were forced to consume polluted water sources due to the crisis at hand. In June 2016, the count of health problems skyrocketed in Latur, with multiple people showing symptoms of fever, infection, dehydration, vomiting, and kidney ailments. In addition to this health crisis, hospitals were unable to safely perform any surgery due to the increased threat of post-operative infections and complications resulting from a lack of clean drinking water. A similar crisis emerged in Chennai in 2019 resulting in violent incidents and protests amongst the residents of the city. In June 2019 in Chennai, a woman was stabbed by her neighbor as she attempted to dig a borewell for water. In February 2016,

was led to the brink of a severe water crisis by some Jat tribe demonstrators who purposefully damaged the

Munak canal The Munak Canal is a 102 kilometer long aqueduct that is part of Western Yamuna Canal in Haryana and Delhi states in India. The canal conveys water from the Yamuna River at Munak regulator in Karnal district of Haryana and travels in a souther ...

, a crucial source of water supply for the city. The protests were in retaliation to the

Supreme Court A supreme court is the highest court within the hierarchy of courts in most legal jurisdictions. Other descriptions for such courts include court of last resort, apex court, and high (or final) court of appeal. Broadly speaking, the decisions of ...

judgement which cancelled

Other Backward Class The Other Backward Class is a collective term used by the Government of India to classify castes which are educationally or socially backward. It is one of several official classifications of the population of India, along with General castes, S ...

(OBC) quotas for them. The water crisis in India was also exacerbated by the emergence of the so-called water mafia or 'tanker mafia'. Tanker mafia refers to private water tank owners who smuggle clean water illegally and sell it to local people at expensive prices. The tanker mafia is notorious in the city of

Bhopal Bhopal (; ) is the capital city of the Indian state of Madhya Pradesh and the administrative headquarters of both Bhopal district and Bhopal division. It is known as the ''City of Lakes'' due to its various natural and artificial lakes. It i ...

, where the mafia has been reported to bully poor residents and competing businesses, creating an atmosphere of social instability.

Ecosystem

Water scarcity also threatens the lives of wild animals across India. Wild animals are forced to infiltrate villages and cities in India as they attempt to find potable water. In 2016, the city of

Mettur Mettur is an industrial and tourist town located in the Salem district in the state of Tamil Nadu, India. It is best known for the Mettur Dam which is the largest dam in south India. Mettur is also known for its power generation, chemical ma ...

and Kolathur experienced an acute water shortage caused by a drought, which caused water bodies in nearby forests to dry out. Eventually, local wild animals like elephants, tigers, and spotted deers started to sneak into the cities in search of water. Some of these animals pose a threat to the citizens, as they can attack people. Some animals like spotted deers get physically attacked by dogs in the process, or they wind up injured or dead in accidents. In the

Madurai Madurai ( , also , ) is a major city in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. It is the cultural capital of Tamil Nadu and the administrative headquarters of Madurai District. As of the 2011 census, it was the third largest Urban agglomeration in ...

district, the acute water shortage caused Indian gaurs to die by falling into wells as they looked for water.

Agriculture

Water is essential to the popular occupation of

agriculture in India The history of agriculture in India dates back to the South Asian Stone Age, neolothic. India List of countries by GDP sector composition, ranks second worldwide in farm outputs. As per 2018, agriculture employed more than 50% of the Indian wo ...

. Farmers are unable to produce crops in the absence of water. The drought in 2019 even destroyed the supplementary crops in addition to the winter crops. The scarcity of water has rendered a lot of valuable farmland in India completely useless and much of the farming industry in these regions has ceased to operate. In 2016, the city of

witnessed mass unemployment, where about half of its workforce was threatened to be unemployed as the agricultural industry struggled. Much of the local economy and farming regions nearly collapsed as the citizens were left with no choice but to use the polluted water. This implied reduced job opportunities in rural areas, which pushed citizens to move to the cities in search of jobs. Such a trend only adds pressure to the already strained infrastructure as the demand for water in large cities continues to increase.

Reasons for scarcity

Climate change

Monsoon A monsoon () is traditionally a seasonal reversing wind accompanied by corresponding changes in precipitation but is now used to describe seasonal changes in atmospheric circulation and precipitation associated with annual latitudinal oscil ...

is defined as a seasonal reversing wind accompanied by corresponding changes in precipitation. The North-East monsoon is responsible for 10%-20% rainfall of the total rainfall in India, while the South-West monsoon provides approximately 80% of rainfall. Therefore, the effects of climate change on the monsoon seasons is one of the important reasons for decrease in rainfall and water shortage in India. In recent years, monsoons in India have become more sporadic while also reducing in their length and hence reducing the total precipitation. In 2018, the North-East monsoon decreased by 44% and the South-West monsoon was deficient by 10%. The summer South-West monsoon that usually results in rainfall from the months of June till September was delayed for 10 days, causing the rainfall in the area to decrease by 36 percent in comparison to the 50-year average. Because of the lower rainfall, water levels in reservoirs across the country decreased and led to extreme shortages of water in many major cities of India. During the first half year of 2019, 91 major reservoirs in the country recorded a 32% drop in their water capacity, resulting in disasters such as the Chennai Water Crisis The economic impact of rising sea levels is substantially evident within India. The damage cost is estimated at between US$24 billion and US$36 billion. This is primarily due to the rate of high emissions in conjunction with the increasing instability of ice sheets. These rising emissions are a predominant factor behind why India is consequently facing higher temperatures. The ‘wet-bulb temperature’, an approximate tool that integrates heat and humidity is expected to be at a constant rate of 31 Celsius. That rate resembles an adverse impact on human life due to the impacts of climate change in relation to water.

Infrastructure issues

River pollution

Due to the lack of a long-term water management plan, many of the country’s rivers either run dry or have been polluted. Although one of the most important river in India,

Ganga The Ganges ( ) (in India: Ganga ( ); in Bangladesh: Padma ( )). "The Ganges Basin, known in India as the Ganga and in Bangladesh as the Padma, is an international river to which India, Bangladesh, Nepal and China are the riparian states." is ...

is also the one that is most severely polluted. The pollution mostly results from untreated sewage from densely populated cities, industrial waste as well as due to religious ceremonies in and around the river.

is a

holy river Sacred waters are sacred natural sites characterized by tangible topographical land formations such as rivers, lakes, springs, reservoirs, and oceans, as opposed to holy water which is water elevated with the sacramental blessing of a cleric. T ...

Hindu mythology Hindu mythology is the body of myths and literature attributed to, and espoused by, the adherents of the Hindu religion, found in Hindu texts such as the Vedic literature, epics like ''Mahabharata'' and ''Ramayana'', the Puranas, and reg ...

and during religious festivals, over 70 million people bathe in the Ganges, believed to wash off their sins. The bones and ashes remaining after Hindu cremation are also thrown into Ganges along with other religious waste. Sometimes, half-cremated bodies are also thrown into the Ganges in order to let them decompose in water. Although the

Ganga Action Plan Water pollution, Pollution of the Ganges, the largest river in India, poses significant threats to human health and the larger environment. The river, which is Water pollution in India, severely polluted with human waste and industrial contamin ...

was launched in 1984 in a bid to clean the Ganges River within 25 years, the river is still highly polluted, with a high proportion of heavy metals and lethal chemicals that can even cause

cancer Cancer is a group of diseases involving abnormal cell growth with the potential to invade or spread to other parts of the body. These contrast with benign tumors, which do not spread. Possible signs and symptoms include a lump, abnormal b ...

. The unsatisfying result of the Ganga Action Plan has been attributed to a "lack of technical knowledge" and "misplaced priorities". Other cited reasons also include lack of maintenance of the facilities as well as an inadequate fees for the services.

Groundwater extraction and irrigation

India is the world's biggest

groundwater Groundwater is the water present beneath Earth's surface in rock and soil pore spaces and in the fractures of rock formations. About 30 percent of all readily available freshwater in the world is groundwater. A unit of rock or an unconsolidate ...

user, extracting of

in 2010, compared to of groundwater extracted by the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

. From 2007 to 2017, the continued exploitation of groundwater caused the groundwater level in India to decrease by 61 percent, according to the Central Ground Water Board (CGWB). The unmonitored and unregulated extraction of groundwater has diminished and contaminated the water resources, and therefore threatens the people who depend on these water sources for their daily needs. According to a report by NITI Ayog in 2018, “the country was suffering from the worst water crisis in the history”. The report also pointed out that 21 Indian cities will run out of ground water by 2020. Groundwater meets more than half of the country’s need of water supply, and nearly 89% of the groundwater extracted in India is used for

. The traditional techniques of irrigation are also to blame for the water crisis as they result in a majority of water loss and evaporation during the irrigation process.

Wastage of water

According to the Central Water Commission, even though climate change has resulted in a reduction in rainfall and thereby the water supply, the country still receives enough rainfall to meet the needs of over 1 billion people. However, India only catches only 8 percent of its annual rainfall due to poor rainwater harvesting. Due to rapid urbanisation, a lot of the ponds used to capture water have been lost due to the rising population and inefficient implementation of city planning guidelines. India has also been lacking in the treatment of

wastewater Wastewater is water generated after the use of freshwater, raw water, drinking water or saline water in a variety of deliberate applications or processes. Another definition of wastewater is "Used water from any combination of domestic, industr ...

for reuse. Approximately 80 percent of domestic wastewater is drained out as waste and ends up flowing into other water bodies which lead to salt water sources such as the

Bay of Bengal The Bay of Bengal is the northeastern part of the Indian Ocean, bounded on the west and northwest by India, on the north by Bangladesh, and on the east by Myanmar and the Andaman and Nicobar Islands of India. Its southern limit is a line between ...

and the

Arabian Sea The Arabian Sea ( ar, اَلْبَحرْ ٱلْعَرَبِيُّ, Al-Bahr al-ˁArabī) is a region of the northern Indian Ocean bounded on the north by Pakistan, Iran and the Gulf of Oman, on the west by the Gulf of Aden, Guardafui Channel ...

Efforts

Government efforts

The

has reformed several of its departments and initiated several water supply projects in the last 3 years to respond to the country’s growing water needs. The reforms include the establishment of a new ministry for water known as the Jal Shakti Ministry. The government also launched several projects in the main rivers and underground water sources. The Indian government has claimed that the new ministry and projects could increase the whole country’s water use efficiency by 20% in addition to enhancing the capacity of its water reserves and protecting the currently over-exploited area.

Establish new ministry through department reorganization

In June 2019, Indian Prime Minister

Narendra Modi Narendra Damodardas Modi (; born 17 September 1950) is an Indian politician serving as the 14th and current Prime Minister of India since 2014. Modi was the Chief Minister of Gujarat from 2001 to 2014 and is the Member of Parliament from ...

launched a new plan, “Piped Water for All by 2024” in order to integrate different water resources management departments together to take charge of the ground and surface water depletion. The newly formed Jal Shakti ministry is responsible for publishing the policy guideline for water resources usage, regulating and leading the water resources related projects, and dealing with the cooperation, facilitation, and negotiation of water resources both internationally and in between states. Prior to the formation of the Jal Shakti ministry, water resources in India were managed by different departments under the governance of either the local state government or the union government. The new ministry combines the

Ministry of Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation The Ministry of Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation was the apex body for formulation and administration of rules and regulations relating to the development and regulation of the water resources in India. The Ministry was f ...

with the former

Ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation The Ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation was a ministry of the Government of India formed in 2011. From May 2019, the ministry has been merged with the Ministry of Jal Shakti. In 1999, the Department of Drinking Water Supply (DDWS) was for ...

. The government aims that this step will prevent various departments from conflicting and overlapping with each other. The Jal Shakti Ministry is responsible for managing the financial and technical resources, policy support and the pollution regulation deployment regarding the water resources throughout the country.

Ganga River cleaning programs

The

Ganges The Ganges ( ) (in India: Ganga ( ); in Bangladesh: Padma ( )). "The Ganges Basin, known in India as the Ganga and in Bangladesh as the Padma, is an international river to which India, Bangladesh, Nepal and China are the riparian states." is ...

, a popular holy river in India, feeds millions of people in

North India North India is a loosely defined region consisting of the northern part of India. The dominant geographical features of North India are the Indo-Gangetic Plain and the Himalayas, which demarcate the region from the Tibetan Plateau and Central ...

. Despite the heavy reliance of public life on the river, it was named as one of the 10 most dangerous rivers in the world in 2007 due to

. The first Ganga river cleaning program (

) was started in 1985 with an aim to tackle the problem of excessive water pollution in the river. The program was gradually expanded to look after the other rivers in India as well. Over the past 20 years, over £100m has been spent to mitigate the effect of industrial pollution on rivers and other water bodies. However, the Ganga Action Plan has not shown any significant results over the years. In 2018, the

Central Pollution Control Board The Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) of India is a statutory organization under the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (Mo.E.F.C.C.). It was established in 1974 under the Water (Prevention and Control of pollution) Act, 1 ...

and National Green Tribunal of India reported that only 7% of the water region in Ganga River is drinkable and only about 10% of the water can be used for bathing. To combat the problem of government incompetence in solving the water crisis, the Modi government announced that it will be launching new projects with more investment along with formulating new policies to manage the pollution in Ganga and other rivers in India.

Non-governmental efforts

India has a huge number of Non Government Organisations that focus on solving water shortage problems for the citizens in affected areas. Some of the organizations such as 'FORCE' and 'Safe Water Network' are actively involved in dealing with the water crisis in India. International organisations such as 'We are Water' and

UNICEF UNICEF (), originally called the United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund in full, now officially United Nations Children's Fund, is an agency of the United Nations responsible for providing Humanitarianism, humanitarian and Devel ...

also very active in alleviating the problems of basic water supply and sanitation in villages. Most of the non-governmental organizations work on raising social awareness and establishing water resources projects for the heavily affected parts of the country.

Raising social awareness

Most non-governmental organizations consider raising social awareness as one of their main responsibilities. They are actively involved in teaching the locals how to preserve the water resources and how to increase the water usage efficiency by installing new water gathering stations and improving their irrigation techniques. ‘We are Water’ publishes documentary films every year broadcasting the severe water scarcity in India to raise social awareness. In its documentaries, We are Water highlights the main reasons for water scarcity in the country and how each civilian can work towards conserving water in their own homes. These documents are especially relevant in rural areas as the residents don’t have direct access to government schemes.

Establishing water resources projects

A lot of non-governmental organisations in India are involved in establishing water harvesting structures in rural areas. For example, villagers in Palve Budruk, near

Ahmednagar Ahmednagar (), is a city located in the Ahmednagar district in the state of Maharashtra, India, about 120 km northeast of Pune and 114 km from Aurangabad. Ahmednagar takes its name from Ahmad Nizam Shah I, who founded the town in 1494 ...

, developed a catchment plan covering 1,435 hectares – over 80% of the land available with support from

. The system consists of 3 dams, 20 canal bunds, two small percolation tanks linked to the main tank and 19 village ponds. Water stored in the percolation tank, is strictly meant for domestic use. Piped water is supplied for an hour a day in the morning, during which families are expected to fill up water for drinking and cooking. The Jal Bhagirathi Foundation is one of the most prominent non profit organisations in India dealing with the issues of water scarcity in the desert terrains of

Rajasthan Rajasthan (; lit. 'Land of Kings') is a state in northern India. It covers or 10.4 per cent of India's total geographical area. It is the largest Indian state by area and the seventh largest by population. It is on India's northwestern si ...

. The foundation has covered over 550 villages and revived more than 2000 water harvesting structures in the region. The organisation claims to harvest over 4000 million litres of water every year along with reclamation of 100+ hectares of barren land. The organisation also works actively with schools in the region, providing safe water and sanitation facilities to them. The Jal Bhagirathi Foundation is also actively involved in raising awareness about water conservation and has been awarded numerous awards for its efforts.

Solutions and technologies

Rain collection

Rainwater harvesting is the name given to the innovative way of collecting rainwater in order to recharge the underground water. A lot of houses have built their own rainwater harvesting structures in order to be self sufficient. In Banglore, Biome Environmental Trust and Friends of Lakes launched citizen initiatives to dig up to 1 million recharging wells and connect them to the groundwater using funnels. The nonprofit organisations expect this initiative to collect as much as 60% of the total rain water.

Coastal reservoirs

Coastal reservoir Coastal reservoir is a type of reservoir to store fresh water on sea coast area near a river delta. Saemanguem in South Korea, Marina Barrage in Singapore, Qingcaosha and Plover Cove in China, Delta Works in Netherlands, Thanneermukkom Bund in In ...

is a fresh/river water storage reservoir located on

sea coast The coast, also known as the coastline or seashore, is defined as the area where land meets the ocean, or as a line that forms the boundary between the land and the coastline. The Earth has around of coastline. Coasts are important zones in n ...

area near a

river delta A river delta is a landform shaped like a triangle, created by deposition (geology), deposition of sediment that is carried by a river and enters slower-moving or stagnant water. This occurs where a river enters an ocean, sea, estuary, lake, res ...

. It does not submerge the land area and there is no requirement of land acquisition and rehabilitation of displaced population. These multi purpose water storage reservoirs can be built at low cost to supply adequate water for all the water requirements such as irrigation, drinking, industrial, salt export, base flows, environmental flows, etc. benefiting all water deficit areas of India India is not running out of water but water is running out of India without reaping benefits from the available water resources in India.

Desalination

Desalination Desalination is a process that takes away mineral components from saline water. More generally, desalination refers to the removal of salts and minerals from a target substance, as in Soil salinity control, soil desalination, which is an issue f ...

is a potential advanced technique to solve the problem of water shortage, especially in coastal regions. Desalination involves treating sea water to remove its salt content, making it fit for drinking. In the past decades,

Israel Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...

has already developed a systematic method to desalinate the sea water into fresh water for industrial and domestic usage. India is already looking into installing desalination plants near the coastal regions to fulfil the water needs cities such as Chennai.

Irrigation Techniques

Employing almost 44% of India's working population, agriculture is one of the most important occupations in India. Consequently, up to 80% of the groundwater in India is used for

. The Indian Agriculture Institute has been promoting the

drip irrigation Drip irrigation or trickle irrigation is a type of micro-irrigation system that has the potential to save water and nutrients by allowing water to drip slowly to the roots of plants, either from above the soil surface or buried below the surface. ...

technology to relieve the water scarcity in India for decades. The technology has the advantage of being applicable to all kinds of terrains in the country. Furthermore, the technique helps farmers use water more efficiently by modifying the water supply based on the moisture level of the soil. With the help of the Indian government, drip irrigation has seen a massive rise in implementation over the last 15 years. Currently, almost 351,000 hectares of irrigated land is under drip irrigation, compared to just 40 hectares in 1960s.

Current events

2019 Chennai water crisis

In June 2019, the Indian city of

faced an acute water shortage after its 4 main water reservoirs ran completely dry. Chennai is India’s 6th largest metropolis with a population of roughly 9 million people. The dire shortage of water affected the huge population of Chennai very badly as hundreds of people waited in lines with empty water buckets for hours. Several restaurants and hotels in the city also shut down due to the shortage of water. Even the IT firms in the city otherwise known for its thriving IT and automobile sectors were forced to ask their employees to work from home as the crisis worsened. Out of the daily requirement of , the city was only able to provide . Chennai Metro Water was forced to cut short its daily water supply by 40% to deal with the ongoing crisis. The government responded by sending water tankers to residential areas. Water was also delivered to the city by a special train with the capacity to carry 10 million liters of water daily.

References

External links

* *

{{Asia topic, Water scarcity in Water in India Water pollution in India Water supply and sanitation in India I