As the most populous country in the world, India is facing a very serious water resource problem. This poses significant challenges to India’s economic growth, safe water supply, and people’s physical health……
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Problem
In India, about 80% of Indians live in rural areas and have little access to running water. Household water needs to be obtained from fixed water sources. Most Indian women have to wake up early in the dark every day, travel long distances of several kms, and queue for five or six hours to obtain the drinking water needed by their entire family in order to fetch water. In addition, over 130 million people in India’s residential areas have groundwater containing at least one pollutant, while over 20 million people’s residential areas have groundwater containing three or more excessive pollutants, further highlighting the serious water resource problems faced by India.
Reasons
- Large population: Although India has a considerable amount of water resources, due to its large population size, the per capita available water resources have significantly decreased. At present, India’s per capita water resources are only 1100 cubic meters, which is already below the internationally recognized water scarcity warning line of 1700 cubic meters.
- Uneven distribution of water resources: India has obvious dry and rainy seasons and high temperatures throughout the year, with areas near the Himalayas and the central and western regions near the Indian Ocean receiving more abundant precipitation. However, the annual precipitation in the desert areas near Pakistan and Bangladesh in the west is less than 100 mm. The distribution of water resources is severely uneven.
- Water pollution problem: Many rivers in India are severely polluted, especially in urban areas, where untreated sewage is directly discharged into rivers, rendering previously available water resources unusable.
- Overexploitation of groundwater: In other countries, water scarcity can be alleviated by exploiting groundwater, but the situation is different in India, as 90% of its domestic water and 80% of its agricultural irrigation water rely on groundwater. The excessive exploitation of groundwater has caused adverse effects on the ecological environment, which is also an important reason for India’s water shortage problem.
Solutions
- Solutions to Large population
- Implement the family planning policy and control the birth rate of the population;
- Women’s empowerment and education;
- Solutions to Uneven distribution of water resources
- Constructing and improving water conservancy facilities;
- Construction of reservoirs, dams, implementation of inland river network and other measures;
- Solutions to Water pollution problem
- Constructing sewage treatment plants: intercepting, diverting, and treating domestic sewage, building sewage treatment plants, constructing sewage tributaries and diversion points, etc.
- Scientifically treated Ganges wastewater: The treated Ganges wastewater can not only be used for irrigation, but also provide various by-products such as biogas and concentrated fertilizers.
- Clean up polluting units: repair existing sewage systems and remove toxic and industrial chemical waste from identified polluting units.
- Solutions to Overexploitation of groundwater
- Strengthen legal supervision and severely punish violations;
- Introduce advanced monitoring technology and equipment to accurately monitor mining output;
- Strengthen public education and enhance public awareness;
- Strengthening international cooperation and assistance;
Call to Action
We need to improve the water resource problem and achieve the sustainable development goals. If we take action now, we can improve the water resource problem in India. Let’s make sure a better water resource in India.
Sources
http://k.sina.com.cn/article_5052238402_12d230a4202700u9dr.html