When we take WATER for granted

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It was believed that before starting of any life system in the earth the water has played the pivotal role. It's been there over billion years, since the earth came into existence.

Life of the planet are made of five basic elements, viz., Earth, Water, Fire, Air and Sky, Without a doubt, water is one of the most important elements and no life can survive without it. Despite having so valuable, we seem to have failed to address this sector seriously. Human beings could not save and conserve water and it sources, probably because of its availability in abundance. But this irresponsible attitude resulted in deterioration of water bodies with respect to quantity and quality both. As it's been said, " better late than never", we have not realised the seriousness of this issue and initiated efforts to overcome those problems.

Every living being like humans, animals, plants and trees all need water for existence. For human beings, apart from drinking, water is used for cooking, bathing, washing etc. The precious gift from nature, water, is also used in agriculture and other industrial sector.

India is undergoing a very serious water crisis with economic growth, livelihoods, health, as well as ecological sustainability at stake.

In this Blog we are going to shed some lights on GROUND WATER DEPLETION which is lurking around the corner.

There are basically many facets to this situation. Let's suss out one by one.

Water covers 70% of the Earth, but only 2.5% of it is fresh. The rest is saline and ocean-based. Unfortunately that's not all we have. Even then, just 1% of our freshwater is easily accessible, with much of it trapped in glaciers and snowfields. Only 1% is easily accessible to you which are found in lakes, rivers and deep down in the layers of ground.

Although this is the blue planet we are living in and full of waters but in reality we have a very limited quantity of water which we all earthlings can really use.

So, Why Should we be worried about the Water ? Don't we have enough water that we can take out as much as we want from the ground ?

Answer of this question is both Yes and No.

For now YES we have plenty of water in the ground that we can extract whenever we want but we have concerns as well. It's going down and down every year at much rapid pace. we don't even realise the threat that's looming over us.

India has around 1.3 billion population, which is 17% of world’s population but has only 4% of the world’s freshwater resources. Managing these disproportionately small resources for a huge population is a strenuous task. About two lakh people die every year due to inadequate water, sanitation and hygiene.

We as a country, are blessed with so many mountains and rivers but these surface water of rivers is not accessible to all. In spite of possessing surface water resources, India is highly dependent on groundwater resources for day to day survival. According to Central Groundwater Board (CGWB), contribution of groundwater is nearly 62% in irrigation, 85% in rural water supply and 45% in urban water supply.

Of all the sectors and human activities, agriculture is most intimately tied to water, and also affect water the most. Rapid urbanisation and Industrial develompents demand more water than it used to a decade before. The growing population of Indian cities due to natural growth of population and migration has made our cities unsustainableand mindless urban expansion along with overexploitation of existing water resources has adversely affected the carrying capacity of the cities. India’s population is expected to increase to 1.65 billion by 2050. With increase in population the demand for clean usable water will increase.

NITI Ayog has published one of it's report on groundwater level says 21 Indian cities including Delhi, Bengaluru, Chennai, and Hyderabad - will run out of groundwater by 2020, and 100 million will be directly affected by this tribulation. It also says that 40% of India's population will have no access to drinking water by 2030. you can now imagine the picture of gloomy future in which we are entering in.

Also purchasing power,the annual food requirement in the country will exceed 250 million tons by 2050. The total demand for grains will increase to 375 million tons including grain for feeding livestock by 2050. The surge in demand for these water-intensive crops will multiply our current agricultural consumption of water.

Inefficiency and sub-optimal planning that is causing most water related problems, including depletion of the ground water tables at an alarming rate. According to a study, water guzzling crops like sugarcane and paddy are grown in states like Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh (UP) and Punjab, using up lakhs of litres of irrigation water per hectare.Water-intensive crops have always been preferred by farmers, as they are more remunerative.

This is despite dependency on water resources or rain.

These are just the tip of the iceberg, we have much more problems that we can count and pretend like everything's alright or we can start acting with small steps at a time. Looking at the bright side, there are still few options we can try out.

Recharge of aquifers by Rainwater Harvesting

Aquifers are porous and permeable layers of the earth that are capable of storing and transporting water.

Rainwater harvesting is the process of augmenting the natural filtration of rainwater in to the underground formation by some artificial methods. "Conscious collection and storage of rainwater to cater to demands of water, for drinking, domestic purpose & irrigation is termed as Rainwater Harvesting.

With water being such a necessary resource for life on Earth, reducing your water footprint is

a great way to take action. Water conservation can be simple, and it starts at home.

Whether you're doing laundry, washing the dishes, brushing your teeth, or watering your plants.

Conserve water at home. It takes a lot of energy to bring water from rivers, groundwater or whatever your local water source is into your home. Water must be pumped to a treatment plant, filtered and treated with chemicals to clean it, then pumped into your neighborhood so you can use it home. Saving as much water as possible reduces the stress this whole process puts on natural bodies of water in the environment. Here are a few ways to conserve water:

There are also few ways which you may find silly but every drop counts.

Use the low-water dishwashing method. Instead of having the water running the whole time, fill one sink with hot soapy water, then turn off the water and scrub the dishes. Dip them into a second sink filled with clean water, then dry and store them

Install a low-flow shower head and take short showers. Long showers and baths use a lot more water

Use water-saving appliances, like a dishwasher and washing machine.

Fix leaks in your pipes so water isn't constantly coming out.

Don't leave water running while you brush your teeth.

In the present scenario management and distribution of water has become centralized. People depend on government system, which has resulted in disruption of community participation in water management and collapse of traditional water harvesting system. Also we can Rope in Corporates In water management, corporations must play a more active role in using their Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) efforts towards innovation and conservation of water, along with the dissemination of proven practices that help conserve and harness water recharge.

Not immediately but eventually if you take small foot steps we will end up in a better future, which will be sustainable and inclusive.