Aqua strife
Private answers to a shortage of public good No. 1 - water - are emerging but that's only a small start to fixing what will be a big problem in future.
India will need to answer some pressing questions on water sooner than later. If the problem of large pockets of the population living without easy access to water seems acute, brace for this: come 2030, the country could face a large gap between current supply and projected demand amounting to as much as half of demand, or 755 billion cubic metres. That is more than 60 times the water in India's biggest reservoir at Khandwa, Madhya Pradesh, created by the Indirasagar dam.
The immediate task on hand in India, then, says an expert, is to increase focus on how water is used. "It is instructive to see how much could be achieved through improved water management than through necessarily augmenting new supplies alone," says Dominic Waughray, Senior Director and Head of Environmental Initiatives, World Economic Forum.
Many low-cost options exist to improve demand management and efficient water use in agriculture, he says. For instance, reduced till farming, a reduction in over irrigation, and increasing the yield in rice cultivation.
This can be a game-changer given that 70 per cent of freshwater is used for agriculture. "Calculations suggest that if all the lowest cost options for reducing the water gap by 2030 are applied, including for agriculture, the annual expenditure by 2030 required to manage India's water resources would be $5.9 billion," suggests Waughray. That will not be a huge sum then.
Several companies have started businesses focused on what is increasingly seen as blue riches. VA Tech Wabag, which is building a sea-water desalination plant at Chennai, concluded a successful initial public offer - the first by a water company - earlier this year. A company like Environment Planning Group has leveraged the social entrepreneurship model to provide drinking water in Gujarat's villages. And in Mumbai, Hydroair Tectonics buys sewage from the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation to convert it into clean water for watering the city's racecourse.
Clearly, a small start to what will be a long haul.
The immediate task on hand in India, then, says an expert, is to increase focus on how water is used. "It is instructive to see how much could be achieved through improved water management than through necessarily augmenting new supplies alone," says Dominic Waughray, Senior Director and Head of Environmental Initiatives, World Economic Forum.
Deep trouble
|
This can be a game-changer given that 70 per cent of freshwater is used for agriculture. "Calculations suggest that if all the lowest cost options for reducing the water gap by 2030 are applied, including for agriculture, the annual expenditure by 2030 required to manage India's water resources would be $5.9 billion," suggests Waughray. That will not be a huge sum then.
Several companies have started businesses focused on what is increasingly seen as blue riches. VA Tech Wabag, which is building a sea-water desalination plant at Chennai, concluded a successful initial public offer - the first by a water company - earlier this year. A company like Environment Planning Group has leveraged the social entrepreneurship model to provide drinking water in Gujarat's villages. And in Mumbai, Hydroair Tectonics buys sewage from the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation to convert it into clean water for watering the city's racecourse.
Clearly, a small start to what will be a long haul.
