A growing concern: How soon will India run out of water?

www.jogh.org • journal of global health / December, 2011 • Vol. 1 No. 2 135 Water resources of a country constitute one of its vital assets. India receives an average of 4000 billion cubic meters of rainfall every year, confined to the monsoon season (June through September). Unfortunately, due to lack of storage and crumbling infrastructure, only 18% can be used (1). Apart from the water available in the various rivers of the country, groundwater forms an important source of water for drinking, irrigation, industrial and other uses. Groundwater is a vital resource, with a large fraction of the population relying on the resource directly or indirectly for livelihoods. Groundwater accounts for about 50–80% of domestic water use and 45–50% of irrigation in the country (2). This heavy reliance on groundwater for both domestic water and irrigation purposes is now approaching its limit as an increasing number of aquifers reach unsustainable levels after decades of exploitation. Overall, India has around 432 cubic kilometres of annual replenishable groundwater resources. With a net annual groundwater availability of 399 cubic kilometres, the net withdrawals in 2004 amounted to 58% of the net annually available resource (3). However there are several regional and intra-state variations. According to the 2004 nationwide assessment, 29% of the A growing concern: How soon will India run out of water?