CSEC

Do you know?

Globally, water scarcity already affects four out of every 10 people (www.who.int).

By 2025, 1.8 billion people are expected to be living in countries or regions with absolute water scarcity, and two-thirds of the world population could be under water stress conditions. (UNESCO, 2012)

With the existing climate change scenario, by 2030, water scarcity in some arid and semi-arid places will displace between 24 million and 700 million people. (UNCCD)

90% of all natural disasters are water-related. (UNISDR)

Since 1900, more than 11 million people have died as a consequence of drought and more than 2 billion have been affected by drought, more than any other physical hazard. (FAO)

By 2050, rising populations in floodprone lands, climate change, deforestation, loss of wetlands and rising sea levels are expected to increase the number of people vulnerable to flood disaster to 2 billion. (UNESCO, 2012)

Overall, annual economic losses from weather-related disasters are estimated at between US$ 250 billion and US$ 300 billion. (UNISDR)

Asia is the region most vulnerable to water-related disasters, accounting for more than 45% of fatalities and more than 90% of the people affected by disasters between 1980 and 2006. (UNESCO, 2009)

Globally, 80% of wastewater flows back into the ecosystem without being treated or reused (UNESCO, 2017).

By 2050, close to 70% of the world’s population will live in cities, compared to 50% today. Currently, most cities do not have inadequate infrastructure and resources to address wastewater management in an efficient and sustainable way. (UNDESA, 2014)

1.8 billion people use a source of drinking water contaminated with faeces, putting them at risk of contracting cholera, dysentery, typhoid and polio. (WHO/UNICEF 2015)

Agriculture accounts for 70% of global water withdrawal. (FAO)

Roughly 75% of all industrial water withdrawals are used for energy production. (UNESCO, 2014)

Global water demand (in terms of water withdrawals) is projected to increase by 55% by 2050, mainly because of growing demands from manufacturing (400% increase). More than 40% of the global population is projected to be living in areas of severe water stress by 2050. (UNESCO, 2014)

It typically takes 3,000 – 5,000 litres of water to produce 1 kg of rice, 2,000 litres for 1kg of soya, 900 litres for 1kg of wheat and 500 litres for 1kg of potatoes. (WWF)

20% of the world’s aquifers being over-exploited, some critically so. Deterioration of wetlands worldwide is reducing the capacity of ecosystems to purify water. (UNESCO, 2014)

Today 71% of the global population (5.2 billion people) use a safely managed drinking water service; that is, one located on premises, available when needed and free from contamination. 1 out of 3 of these people (1.9 billion people) live in rural areas. (WHO/UNICEF 2017)

263 million people spent over 30 minutes per round trip to collect water from an improved source. (WHO/UNICEF 2017)

Globally, two out of five people in rural areas use piped water supplies. (WHO/UNICEF, 2017)

70% of the Earth is covered in water out of which 2% of the planet’s water is fresh but 1.6 % of it is locked in polar ice caps and glaciers.

India has 4% of world water

More people in rural India have access to phones than to safe drinking water. It is estimated that only 18 percent of the total rural population of 833 million have access to treated water. In comparison, 41 percent of the rural population, or 346 million people, own mobile phones.(Forbes India, 2015)

Access to safe water varies greatly from state to state: 36 percent of the rural population in Andhra Pradesh has access to treated water while, in Bihar, less than 2 percent of the rural population receives treated water. (Forbes India, 2015)

India ranks a dismal 120 out of 122 nations for its water quality and 133rd out of 180 nations for its water availability. (Forbes India, 2015)

Ganga is the second most polluting river in the world.

Everyday 2.9 billion liters of waste water from industrial and domestic sources are dumped into the river Ganga without treatment

Each year around 1.2 billion pounds of plastic are dumped into River Ganga (BBC, 2018)

Water scarcity due to climate change could cost some region up to 6%of their GDP resulting in migration and conflicts.(World Bank 2018)

Water-Food-Energy Nexus

Water, food and energy are interdependent and demand for all three are increasing as a result of rising population, rapid urbanization, economic growth and changes in food habits. These interlinked domains need suitable integrated management approach to ensure food and water security, sustainable agriculture and energy production. Post-2015 agenda of UN has set new sustainable development goals (SDGs) to achieve sustainable water use, energy use and agricultural practices, as well as promoting more inclusive economic development. The water–energy–food nexus has thus become important and relevant regarding development and subsequent monitoring of the SDGs.

The population of India is expected to increase from 1.029 billionto 1.4 billion by 2025 - an increase of 36% in 25 years at the rate of 1.2% annually(National Commission on Population 2006). Of the projected increase in population nearly 50% is likely to occur in states of Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh and Uttaranchal. To support increasing population the food production is also increasing, though the net cultivable area in India has not changed much since 1990. Major proportion of India’s agricultural land (45.7%) use irrigation for water supply to agri-lands(Department of Agriculture, Cooperation & Farmers Welfare 2015). Since 1970s with green revolution the irrigated area has increased, as has the number of wells and tube wells. Rice, wheat and other staple food require huge amount of water, which has led to overexploitation of ground water. Growth in electricity consumption in agricultural sector has also outpaced other sectors. Though the industrial sector isstill the largest consumer of commercial energy, its share has declined from 54% in 1980-81 to 45% in 2006-07. On the other hand, the share of agriculture sector has increased from 2% to 7% during this period with a growth rate of 10.4%(Jha, Pal and Singh 2012).The popularity of uncontrolled and subsidised supply of energy for irrigation is responsible for this sudden growth. Moreover, farmers in eastern India dependpre-dominantly on diesel pumps, while rest of the India has electric pumps, which makes the food-energy-water nexus location specific.

In a nutshell, to meet the growing food demand of increasing population, India’s irrigation sector is being over dependent on groundwater. More and more ground water is extracted using electricity which is highly subsidised for agri-sector. This creates a nexus where agriculture is depending on the unsustainable ground water and electricity sector. To combat the challenges technological options should be explored, irrigation efficiency has to be improved and there is also need of strong policy interventions and incentive based facilities from the government.