Ever changing water use – challenges for planning and management of scarce water resources

Management of water is an economic, social and political issue encompassing all sectors of the economy. Water resources are increasingly becoming a limiting factor for economic growth and human development. The International Conference on Water and Environment organized by the United Nations at Dublin in Ireland in January 1992 has adopted four guiding principles, known as the Dublin Principles, for improving the sustainability of water supply and sanitation services. These principles continue to remain relevant for dealing effectively with the emerging trends of over-consumption and pollution and the rising threats from droughts, floods and climate change.

Water is a multi-sectoral issue that is of critical importance if India is to make progress overcoming major developmental challenges including food security, rapid urbanization, sustainable rural development, disaster risk management, adaptation to climate change and equitable allocation of natural resources. Water embraces the cultural, social, economic and political fabric of India. A massive concentration of people (1.21 billion) compounded with high poverty rates and a monsoonal climate (with 90% of river flow in 4 months of which 50% of rain in 15 days) creates great susceptibility to hydrological shocks by any global standards. Harnessing the rain entirely is difficult. The per capita water storage capacity in India is currently much below that of China or the US. As a result, more than 60 percent of India‘s irrigated agriculture and 85 percent of drinking water supplies are dependent on groundwater. Climate change is expected to intensify monsoon, glacier melt, and flooding further aggravating India‘s unpredictable hydrology. Moreover, the immense scale of this susceptibility combined with the considerable potential for productive development of water resources in India pose unusually complex challenges.