Revision as of 13:44, 9 December 2020

Water distribution

Is inequitablein India

Times of India This article was published around 2010.

New Delhi: On the face of it, India looks like a country with plenty of water with the average use per person per day exceeding 140 litres. However, as the HDR 2006 points out, aggregate figures are often deceptive, because they conceal the disparity in the distribution of water over regions, groups of people, between rich and poor and between the rural and urban population.

Even in the UK, the average use of water per person per day is only 150 litres, not too far above the Indian level, and in neighbouring Bangladesh, the situation is much worse with less than 50 litres of water available for average use per person per day. Yet, specific examples from different parts show just how disparate the distribution of water is and how dismal the situation is for millions who do not get even the minimum requirement of 20 litres of clean water per person per day.

Official data for Mumbai says the city enjoys a safe water coverage of more than 90%. But, as the HDR points out, almost half the city’s population lives in slums and these residents do not even figure in municipal data.

Similarly, in Chennai, the average supply is 68 litres a day, but areas relying on tankers use as little as 8 litres. The HDR also talks about the ‘water lords’ of Gujarat, land owners who have constructed deep wells depriving neighbouring villages of water, only to sell it back at a high price to those whose wells they have emptied.

NOT ENOUGH LIFELINE

In India, spending on military is 3% of GDP and on water and sanitation it is less than 0.5%

Diarrhoea kills 450,000 in India annually, more than in any other country

Research in India by Self Employed Women’s Association (SEWA) has shown that reducing water collection to one hour a day would enable women to earn upto an additional $100 (Rs 4,500 roughly) a year

In Delhi, Karachi and Kathmandu, fewer than 10% of households with piped water receive service 24 hours a day. Two or three hours of delivery is the norm

If the entire population of South Asia had access to basic low-cost water and sanitation technology, it would save the region $34 billion

Water footprint, water stress

India, South Asia, the world: 2018

The Water footprint of and water stress in Bangladesh, India, South Asia, the world: 2018
From: March 26, 2019: The Times of India

See graphic:

The Water footprint of and water stress in Bangladesh, India, South Asia, the world: 2018

Stress, 2001-19

June 20, 2019: The Times of India

Water Stress in India, 2001-19: some examples/ anecdotal evidence
From: June 20, 2019: The Times of India

Ignore Water, Risk Your Biz

As Assets Dry Up, Companies Are Being Cautioned That Water Security Is Not Just A CSR Activity, But A Critical Business Function

Chennai’s IT sector asked employees a week ago to work out of home as a measure to tide over the water crisis that crippled the city. It was a near repeat of measures in 2013 for the very same reason. Clearly, no lessons had been learned.

Running out of water in office premises is perhaps the least of a business’ problems. Indian businesses, largely oblivious to the risk their businesses run in a watercrisis situation, mostly sideline critical water issues as corporate social responsibility (CSR) activity. But a 2019 study by WWF-India has recorded how water-related risks can limit production, disrupt supply chains and “result in asset write-downs, create conflict with other water users and harm corporate reputations.”

Titled ‘Hidden risks and untapped opportunities: Water and the Indian banking sector’, the report looks at the role water plays in business, how reckless business practices result in companies having to abandon large assets from dams to factories, while the liabilities pile up for banks, which have loaned to these companies. The report says more than 39% of the portfolio of Indian banks is exposed to sectors that face “high levels of operational water risk” — scarcity and pollution in the main.

Calling it ‘water-risk’ a business runs, the report also quotes a World Resources Institute study, which found that “water scarcity caused 14 of India’s 20 largest thermal utilities to shut down at least once between 2013 and 2016, costing those companies $1.4 billion.”

Global data from non-profit CDP in 2014 found that 53% of companies reported “significant financial impacts from water”, an increase of 40% from when this data was first reported in 2011. The risks are only increasing.

The risks include closure of factory sites for polluting rivers and water bodies. India has 600 million people coping with high to extreme water stress, and 70% of households receive contaminated water. Much of this has been fallout of business operations. The report says, “India is by far the country where the most people lack access to clean water close to home”. In addition, conflicts within communities are steadily increasing as competition over limited water sources grows.

By 2017, the Tamil Nadu pollution control board had shut down a large textile dyeing unit in Tirupur’s Arulpuram at least four times in a couple of years for discharging untreated industrial effluent into an unused borewell. Earlier this year, power supply to four units were cut off for polluting river Noyal. The Ganges Leather Buyers Platform was formed some years ago by several UK-based companies, sensitive and alert to practices by leather suppliers. Kanpur used to boast about 400 tanneries along the Ganga, the bulk of which would simply dump effluents straight into the river.

Chennai’s severe water crisis is a warning for all cities. For businesses, not making water could soon mean watching assets dry up.

See also

Groundwater: India/ Water Resources: India (ministry data)/ Water Economy: India