The Problem

Pardon me for starting this blog on a negative note but the problem is a shameful and a critical one to address and has been highly ignored.

Rivers have assumed a distinct identity as ‘life givers’ across the world. What’s more, rivers in India have a significance beyond economic wellbeing – as they are inextricably intertwined with our cultural and spiritual heritage. 

In the past few decades, our rivers have been depleting drastically due to various factors like over-extraction, deforestation, pollution from point and non-point sources, and climate variation (increasing temperatures and differential precipitation patterns). Major rivers are rapidly shrinking, and many perennial rivers have turned seasonal, not even reaching the oceans for many months of the year.

 Godavari has shrunk by almost 20% from historical flows. Kaveri has shrunk by 40%, while Krishna and Narmada have shrunk by 60%. According to estimates, by 2030 we will have only 50% of the water that we need for our survival. Further, 25% of India is becoming desert. As compared to 1947, we have about 25% water per capita available today. Rivers meet one-third of the total irrigation and twenty percent of the drinking water needs of the country. Groundwater and other water bodies/resources that meet the rest of our water needs, are already over-stressed across the nation and are being over-utilized at an alarming rate. Twenty-two out of thirty-two major Indian cities deal with daily water shortages. Water scarcity and drought has become a reality for today’s generation in India. In case priority action is not initiated to enhance water supply and reduce overexploitation of our water resources, in another fifteen to twenty years’ time, the country may face a severe water and food crisis.