NEW DELHI: Amid growing decline of per capital annual availability of water in India, different central ministries have resolved to chalk out a joint strategy to ensure efficient use of the natural resource and devise a mechanism of "water audit" for various users, including industries and civic bodies across the country.
Such an audit may be done by an autonomous body — Bureau of Water Use Efficiency — that will ensure best practices of water use in industries, agriculture and municipal bodies. Bureau of Water Use Efficiency will be set up on the line of Bureau of Energy Efficiency (BEE), and it work to stop leakages through propagating best practices of water use.
"The audit may be linked to a strict water regulation and pricing mechanism where the non-efficient users will face disincentive for wastage," said an official of the water resources ministry.
The urgency in this direction was shown at the second India Water Forum, where experts from various organizations appealed to the government during a convention, to explore and evolve new concept related to water regulation and pricing mechanism.
Referring to the figures showing how the country is gradually staring at a water crisis, participants at the Forum — organized by The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI) in association with water resources and other central ministries —pitched for adopting new technologies like drip and sprinkler irrigation at a wider scale to conserve water in agriculture.
The data, shared at the Forum, show that around 80% of the water used in India is for irrigation, while the rest (20%) is used to meet domestic, energy, industrial and other requirements.
Calling for an urgent action to deal with the situation through "water use efficiency", TERI director-general R K Pachauri emphasized on looking at the projection of water availability and warned that the threat of an impending water crisis would affect all individuals around the world.
Pachauri, chairman, Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) of the United Nations, cited the projection that said the per capital availability of water in India would be around two-thirds of the current level by the middle of the century.
The move assumes significance when most of the options of harnessing available water in the country have been utilized. The average annual potential of 'utilizable' water in the country remains constant at 1,121 Billion Cubic Meter whereas the demand for the resource is rising rapidly with an estimated annual requirement of 1,180 BCM by 2050.
The proposed body, comprising members from different central ministries, water experts and representatives from industries and civil society, will also oversee labeling and certification for public utilities, local bodies and industries that manufacture household water fixtures and appliances.
Water woes in the offing
Annual per capita availability of water was 6,042 cubic metre in 1947
Annual per capita availability of water decreases from 1,816 cubic metre in 2001 to 1,545 cubic metre in 2011
Annual per capital availability of water will reduce to 1,140 cubic metre by 2050
Average annual potential of 'utilizable' quantity of water in the country — 1,121 Billion Cubic Metre (BCM) — surface water (690 BCM) and ground water (431 BCM)
Estimated annual requirement of water by 2050: 1,180 BCM
* 1 cubic meter = 1,000 litres
* Source: Union Ministry of Water Resources
