There are three main threats to water supplies in India, said experts like Nalco Water India's managing director Mahesh Rao, and Jadavpur University economics professor Joyashree Roy: inadequate infrastructure for a growing population, the deteriorating quality of ground and surface water, and the as-yet unforeseeable ~ but undeniable ~ effects of climate change. To combat this, said Professor Roy, we need to start with the agricultural sector, which is estimated to consume 70 per cent of the national water supply. “If we can conserve 10 per cent, we can re-distribute this to the domestic sector,” she said. “India should start recycling water,” said Professor BK Dutta of the West Bengal Pollution Control Board, who also suggested incentives for industries that start recycling water. The Minister for Environment and Public Works Department, Mr Sudarshan Ghosh Dastidar, said that the state government is taking the issue of water resources very seriously. “We must come up with new ideas. How can we recycle water, and reduce our consumption? We need new policies for waste water recycling,” he said, but he did not elaborate on any plans or policy currently in the pipelines. Sns