June 2017

In 2012, a World Bank Report observed that “if current trends continue, in 20 years about 60% of all India’s aquifers will be in a critical condition.” It also noted that India’s consumption of groundwater (of which we are the largest consumer globally) is approximately 230 cubic kilometres of groundwater per year. Do you know what changed after this abysmal observation of the World Bank that ought to have shook us to our very core more than four years ago?

Nothing.

We persist in our unabashed use and abuse of the one resource that is unique to our Planet in the entire multiverse (till NASA finds water on another planet in the cosmos, of course). Specifically, the Central, West and South regions of India have the lowest water tables, and 30% of the groundwater table in Southern India has fallen under 60 metres below the ground-level. Compare this to North, East and West – Central India, where the under 60 metre mark is constituted by relatively lower numbers – 3.8%, 1% and cumulatively 7.6%, respectively. In Karnataka, the lowest level of ground water in 2016 was at 89.40 m bgl (metres below ground level) in the Gulbarga District, and 72% of the wells in the state has experienced a fall in water level, ranging from 0 metres to more than 4 metres (source: Central Ground Water Board, Ministry of Water Resources, Government of India).

What Is Ground Water?

Roopal Suhag’s ‘Overview of Groundwater in India’, a PRS Legislative Research initiative released in February, 2016, explains ground water as “the water that seeps through rocks and soil and is stored below the ground.” Water is stored in rocks called ‘aquifers’, which are made of sand, gravel, limestone or sandstone. India has more surface water than ground water, but ground water is critical due to the unpredictability of monsoons and many other factors as well. When surface water is unavailable and in shortage, it is ground water which is used and unfortunately, over-exploited.

Net groundwater availability in India:

Source: India Watertool

Causes of Ground Water Depletion

• 60% of water used for agricultural irrigation is groundwater, and a staggering 89% of all ground water extracted in India is used for irrigation purposes;
• 85% of our drinking water comes from the ground! ;
• Domestic use uses up to 9% of total ground water extracted;
• Surprisingly, industries use only 2-3% of total ground water extracted. This is also because they largely use surface water;
• And if this exploitation was not enough, ground water fulfils about 50% of the water demand of urban India, and 85% of the demand of rural India;
• Water depletion competes with water contamination to truly strip India of its groundwater resources. Almost 50% of the groundwater in India is contaminated by extremely harmful pollutants. Sample this – according to the Central Ground Water Board, excessive fluoride is rampant in 276 districts, excessive nitrate in 387 districts and excessive arsenic in 86 districts. We are using water faster than we can replace it. What we aren’t using, we are rendering useless;
• Pumping out this water at a faster rate than its replenishment is what is causing the water table to erode and slowly vanish (unless we do something about it).

Effects of Ground Water Depletion

• With ground water extraction of 251 cubic kilometre (cu km) annually, India is extinguishing its groundwater resources faster than any other country in the world. Shamefully, a ‘developed’ nation such as USA, and China which is aiming to be USA when it grows up, both much larger than India and the latter with a higher population than India, consume less than half groundwater as India i.e. only 112 cubic kilometre;
• By 2025, there may well not be any groundwater left for agriculture in Punjab, Haryana and Rajasthan;
• Water bodies will get lesser water as groundwater decreases, although surface water will continue to evaporate. This will mean shallower water bodies and disaster for marine ecology. For instance, from thousands of lakes in Bangalore in ancient times, the number dropped to 280 in 1960 and to 17 in 2016. Yes, only 17;
• Groundwater pumping in regions close to the coast, such as coastal regions of Kerala, Karnataka and Pondicherry results in contamination of the groundwater with saline water from the coast, since ground water draws from and meets the sea as well. Saline groundwater is useless for agriculture and human consumption as well;
• Land subsidence, i.e. the loss of support to land from underneath, caused in great measure due to depleting groundwater. Karnataka suffered two major incidents of massive sinkholes, one on C.V Raman Avenue and on the road near Ulsoor lake;

Water stress indicators in India

Image Source: India Today

The Way Forward

The scale and pattern of our consumption of groundwater is slowly but steadily harming the environment in an irreversible manner. Migratory birds are slowly not visiting lakes because the lakes are drying up or full of sewage. Gradually, some species are vanishing, as is certain fauna. The destruction is not limited to plants and animals. As the Cauvery dispute recently made us all aware with both Karnataka and Tamil Nadu declaring a water crisis and the subsequent brawl, men will war (and die) over water too, unless we do something about the situation today. The main key to resolving this issue is to conserve lesser water for our daily chores. Not only this, the FMCGs we use include chemicals that are extremely harmful to us (toothpastes contain fluoride, shampoos and body cleansers contain SLS and parabens) and which eventually meet the ground water and contaminate it beyond repair. Construction sites should draw on lesser ground water, and use products such as the Porotherm Dryfix.System for masonry, a super glue which replaces mortar and uses very less water as it does not require curing, is faster and leaves no debris at the site to be disposed of.

If we look at what each one of us does in our trade/ profession and our daily lives, there is a lot we can do unilaterally which will have a universal impact. Save water, it gives us life every single day!