Tweet

Indians are tapping their underground aquifers faster than nature can replenish it. A report from the National Geophysical Research Institute in Hyderabad concluded that groundwater supplies in many of India's big cities including Delhi, Mumbai or Chennai are declining at a very rapid rate. This could cause a serious problem to the 700 million people who will by 2025 live in urban areas. One point is beyond question. The water system maintenance is spectacularly failing. In New-Delhi,for instance,taps operate on average just three hours a day because 30% to 60% of the water is lost! If we focus now on the rural areas where 70% of India's population currently lives, the picture is not rosier. Half of the water supply is regularly contaminated with toxic bacteria. Besides and thanks to technical advancements the drilling of wells and as a result the groundwater development becomes increasingly easier. Agriculture uses about 90% of the water used by the country and about 80% of this water is pumped from the groundwater. And in fact there is no restriction on groundwater use. The country's food production is indisputably a great success. However this result should not prevent significant measures to protect natural resources. According to the World Bank "India is lagging far behind the rest of the world in providing water and sanitation both to its rural and urban populations". It is clear,in such a situation, that the waste of water resources is no longer acceptable.

Tweet