The south African city of Cape Town has been much talked about due to the immense water crisis it has been facing for quite some time now. So much so that it is likely to run out of water very soon, the event being called as Day Zero.
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However, it is not merely South Africa that needs to be worried about the availability of water but even India needs to stress out as far as water scarcity is concerned. India happens to be one of the most water stressed countries in the world.
As per the AQUASTAT database of Food and Agriculture Organization, in the year 2014, water availability, stood at about 1,100 cubic metres per person in India measured as renewable freshwater resources. For Africa, the same stands at 800 cubic metres while China is way ahead at 2000 cubic metres.
Renewable internal freshwater resources are internal river flows as well as groundwater from rainfall in the country. Also, it excludes groundwater and surface water. The water stress level in India stands between 40 and 80 percent.
Over 50 percent of the total water supply in India comes from groundwater resources. However, there has been immense depletion because of excessive usage in Punjab and Haryana for agricultural purposes. It does not come as a surprise that the aforementioned states along with Delhi happen to be some of the most water-stressed parts of the country.
Districts with overexploited groundwater reserves increased from a mere 3 percent in the year 1995 to a massive 16 percent in 2013. If stats are to be believed India uses more water for growing crops than other major agricultural countries.
In fact, Delhi, Punjab, Haryana and Rajasthan, which are already water stressed use annual groundwater consumption more than the annual groundwater recharge.
It is not that there is a dearth of water bodies in India. However, the availability of surface water is regionally skewed. Most of the surface water in India is in the northern and eastern regions, in the form of Ganga-Brahmaputra river basins.
Along with water scarcity, the quality of available water is also an issue in India. Over 60 percent of the districts in India face either groundwater contamination or scarcity, sometimes even both.
If required steps are not taken in terms of the water resource depletion and contamination, Zero Day or even worse may not be too far away for India in the next few years.
Image Credit: skymet
Please Note: Any information picked from here must be attributed to skymetweather.com