Water Security in India: Exploring the Challenges and Prospects

Abstract

Water security has become a concern for all countries around the world. All human beings are highly dependent on water to carry out their life sustaining activities that involve drinking water, food production, economic development sanitation, etc. Therefore, water security from the household to the global level, ensures that every citizen has access to enough safe water at reasonable costs to lead a clean, healthy, and productive life while ensuring that the natural environment is preserved and enhanced. Although water is a renewable resource, it has become a scarce resource of the world due to excessive consumption. Water security is more difficult to achieve for countries with large populations. India is one of them and has more than 18% of the world’s population, but it only has 4% of world’s renewable water. Along with India's economic growth, water-dependent industry, agriculture, metropolitan areas, and population are rapidly expanding. Water contamination, shortage, groundwater depletion, unequal distribution, and unavailability are existing issues in India. To address these issues, the Indian government has developed a national water policy. A water policy must recognize and handle present and future water resource concerns. Sustainable water use is essential for India's water supply and economic development.