Immediate Measures Needed To Handle Groundwater Depletion In India: Experts

Environmentalists and educationists have expressed serious concerns over the UN report, which predicted India will hit "low level" of groundwater by as early as 2025, saying immediate measures should be taken to arrest the situation otherwise it would become a huge problem for the country.

The report, titled "Interconnected Disaster Risks Report 2023", highlights that the world was approaching six environmental tipping points - accelerating extinctions, groundwater depletion, mountain glacier melting, space debris, unbearable heat and an uninsurable future.

"India is the world's largest user of groundwater, more than the United States and China combined. The northwestern region of India serves as the bread basket for the country's growing population of 1.4 billion, with the states of Punjab and Haryana producing 50 per cent of the country's rice and 85 per cent of its wheat," the UN report said.

Reacting to it, Dr. Rajendra Singh, a well-known conservationist based in India's Rajasthan, told Sputnik India that 62 per cent of groundwater has already been used or wasted and the rest is being used "in a very irresponsible manner".

"Successive governments have failed to address the issue properly. I myself have been talking about it since 1996, telling everyone in the country that groundwater that is extracted has to be reused and until it's done, nothing will happen," explains Singh, who is popularly known as India's 'Waterman'.

The environmentalist also predicted "very difficult times" ahead, saying: "Things would become very difficult for everyone in society and the poor would be at the receiving end of the problem as they would never be able to afford water even for basic uses."

Yet another expert - Yamini Gupt, a professor at Delhi University - told Sputnik India that most people, including farmers, don't know the real price of natural resources and therefore continue to waste them without realising what they are doing.

"I think everyone who uses them [natural resources] needs to be made aware that they are very precious and need to be used with a sense of responsibility," she stated.

Expressing deep concern over the unregulated exploitation of groundwater in our nation, the professor presents a compelling suggestion: the invaluable natural resources should never be utilized "without price".

"As an economist, I also believe that these resources should be priced. This would ensure that natural resources are used wisely," she argued.

When asked how it would be possible to set a price for such things, and whether poor people would ever be able to pay for resources like water, the professor said, "Something like that should be done, otherwise people will continue to waste it, which is a danger to everyone on the planet."

According to the UN report, around 70 per cent of groundwater withdrawals are used for agriculture in India. Certain areas in the Indo-Gangetic basin of our country have already reached a critical point of groundwater depletion, and unfortunately, even more concerning news awaits us. According to predictions, the entire northwestern region is expected to face an alarming scarcity of groundwater by the year 2025.

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