Water Scarcity: Water levels ring alarm bell

New Delhi: With water scarcity across the country already threatening to touch alarming proportions, even the Centre has acknowledged that there is a progressive reduction in levels of the precious mineral in terms of per capita availability.

According to the official data of ministry of water resources, from 2001, when the average annual per capita availability of water in the country was 1,816 m3 per year, it had significantly reduced by 15 per cent to come down to 1,545 m3 per year by 2011. 

More worrisome is the fact that from the 2011 levels it is expected to further fall by another 13 per cent to 1,340 m3 per year by 2025. 

By 2050, these levels could further decline by 15 per cent to stand at around 1,140 m3 per year.

Top officials in the ministry say that ground water levels in various parts of the country are declining because of continuous withdrawal due to reasons such as increased demand of fresh water for various uses, vagaries of rainfall, increased population, as well as industrialisation & urbanisation. 

According to the assessment of Dynamic Ground Water Resources-2013, carried out by Central Ground Water Board (CGWB) jointly with state governments, the net annual ground water availability in the country is 411 BCM (billion cubic metre), whereas, annual ground water utilisation is 253 BCM.