Indian cities need to rethink their water future

Urban India’s inefficiency in water use stems from dilapidated distribution networks, inefficient operations, inadequate metering, and poor municipal governance

The heat wave in several parts of the country has been aggravated by severe water shortage, driven by a groundwater crisis and falling reservoir levels. The emergency has shone a light on the challenges faced by cities, including metros such as Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru, and Chennai. The conventional explanation points to weather vagaries. Rising temperatures increase evaporation losses. However, climate change alone cannot explain why large parts of the country are parched. NITI Aayog’s Composite Water Management Index (CWMI) had warned of a dire situation in 2018. While the timelines estimated in the report may not have been accurate, the CWMI’s warning — Indian cities are living beyond their hydrological means — should have prompted a course correction. Since then, several other studies, including the Jal Shakti Ministry’s latest Dynamic Groundwater Resources Assessment, have flagged the oversaturation of aquifers. The problem, however, is that municipal and state-level authorities treat every crisis as an isolated event and very little has been done to address the structural reasons for water shortfall during the dry season.

Urban India’s inefficiency in water use stems from dilapidated distribution networks, inadequate metering, and poor municipal governance. Not treating wastewater and underharvesting of rainwater prevent the optimum use of scarce resources. In 2016, the Mihir Shah Committee had pointed out that “the focus of water policy in independent India had been on augmenting supplies with little attention being paid to the demand-side management of water”. This policy direction did play a major role in meeting food-security imperatives, but as the Shah Committee pointed out, there has been little emphasis on institutional innovations in the water sector. Since then, programmes such as the Atal Bhujal Yojana have taken early steps to encourage efficient use of water in agriculture. However, demand-side management also requires scientific analyses of water use at the household and industrial level, especially to prevent overexploitation by the well-heeled.

In recent years, a few cities have begun to supplement grey infrastructure — drains and pipes – with nature-based solutions. Lake restoration projects, such as those in Mumbai and Bengaluru, are welcome endeavours. However, these need to be taken up at scale to have a meaningful impact. The country still lacks a concerted policy like China’s Sponge City project that uses urban landscapes and green infrastructure, such as permeable pavements, to promote natural retention of rainwater. The recent crisis should occasion conversations on such methods — cities that get flooded during monsoons shouldn’t be parched in summers.