Water Needs of India: Get Ready for the 2050 Challenge.

Dr. Thrivikramji KP
thrivikramji@gmail.com
Center for Environment & Development, Thozhuvancod,
Tpuram 695 013
Abstract
Surface and subsurface waters jointly constitute the water resource of a country. India is not free
of water woes anyway. Currently, China and India are home for 2.25 billion of the 7.0 billion
people of the world, while the remainder is spread over some 200 plus nations. For a lay citizen
water is aplenty in the earth the blue planet. Yet, globally 40% of the population faces water
shortages.
By 2020 roughly 60% of the population will be living in the urban areas of the world making
huge demands on supply of water, energy, housing, health, education and other welfare programs
like sanitation and waste management, recreation, and transport and entertainment
infrastructure.And by 2050, the world population is projected to reach or breach 9.0 billion mark,
when the water needs are bound to steeply rise due to needs of additional foodstuff, growing
demand for energy, primarily electricity, expansion of industrial manufacturing to keep the
unemployment at acceptable levels, and sporting needs. Added to these are the uncertainties
posed by the global climate change consequences.
The right for water to the population, though undeniable, is gradually fading off and shifting
from the realm of stress to water scarcity. The FAO (2014) in a documents warned of the gross
inequalities in water availability between the less populous (EU and USA) countries on the one
hand and more populous countries (e.g., India and China) on the other. One estimate proposes
that world by 2030 would need 30% more fresh water and 50% more foodstuff and energy to
feed and meet the needs of population. Globally 75% of all water used goes into farming sector.
Another area of relatively huge water usage is in generating electrical energy. But the non-water
mediated ones are solar PV, solar heat and wind.
Water being a finite resource and earth being a closed system, the first option before the nation is
to economize water use (in the farms, factories, transport of products, in homes and hospitals,
schools and play grounds and so on) or efficient use leading to conservation. Some simple but
sure steps are management, physical health of soil, tracking water use, watering outside sunshine hours, adopting newer irrigation technologies like System for Intensification of Rice,
sprinkler and drip irrigation and modern or modified strains of crops known to use less water as
well as newer food stuffs and change of lifestyle and habits or both.
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