More than 600 million people dependent on agriculture have been adversely affected by drought conditions across swathes of India.

Soaring temperatures since early June, averaging about 45 degrees, have stifled most of the country, while the progress of the annual monsoon rains, which normally bring relief from the searing heat and are a vital source of water, has been the slowest in 12 years.

An estimated 43 per cent of the country is affected by drought.

According to countrywide news reports, hundreds of villages and small towns in states including Uttar Pradesh in the east, Rajasthan and Maharashtra in the west and Andhra Pradesh in southern India are surrounded by parched farmland and have been deserted.

The country’s meteorological department predicts a deficient monsoon that in all likelihood may not be able to resuscitate some 91 life-sustaining reservoirs across India, where water levels in some cases are hovering at about 30 per cent capacity.

The federal government, however, has played down reports of water shortages. Addressing a press conference in New Delhi on Monday, water resources minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat said media reports of the water crisis were exaggerated.

He said there was adequate water in dams and reservoirs in the northern Himalayan state of Himachal Pradesh and the crisis was “not as bad as created by the media”.

But the reality is starkly at variance with the minister’s assessment and palpably evident everywhere else. Cities have seen queues of people with plastic drums, buckets, kitchen utensils and empty bottles at municipal water distribution points.

A recent report by the National Institute for Transforming India, or NITI Aayog, headed by prime minister Narendra Modi, said that 21 cities, including Delhi, Bangalore and Chennai, are expected to run out of groundwater by 2020.

“Critical groundwater resources that account for 40 per cent of India’s water supply are being depleted at unsustainable rates,” the NITI Aayog analysis warned.

It affirmed that climate change, deficient rainfall, extended summers and rising populations across India were collectively making it impossible for urban municipalities to meet rising water demands.

The NITI Aayog report also forecast that by 2030 India’s water requirements would double and the resultant water scarcity could trim 6 per cent off its annual gross domestic product. It would also seriously affect food security.

The southern city of Chennai – formerly Madras – is at present the worst afflicted by the water crisis. The port city, which is India’s sixth largest, with a population of about 5 million, requires 800 million litres of water daily, but is able to provide only 525 million – and that too is reducing rapidly.

Many of its private offices have asked their employees to work from home until they figure out ways to mitigate the water scarcity, whilst numerous small hotels and restaurants have temporarily shut down.

“Chennai is now in panic mode,” city resident Syed Altaf told the NDTV news channel on Tuesday. It took at least four days to get access to a water tanker now, whereas earlier it had taken just a few hours, he added.

Farming activist Devinder Sharma said decades of unplanned exploitation of groundwater resources and poor monsoon rains in consecutive years had turned vast portions of central and western India into an arid dust bowl. He predicted that the agriculturally rich northern Punjab state too would become a “desert region” within two decades, if exploitation of underground water resources continued at the prevailing rate. </s> A government-backed report has announced that the India is suffering from the worst water crisis in its history.

Demand is growing, but supply is running short. Experts predict that 21 cities will run out of groundwater supply by 2020 — that includes Delhi, which is home to nearly 19 million people.

Meanwhile, the water that is available is often contaminated by chemicals or other pollution.

Cities are growing quickly, and infrastructure to deliver sanitation is lagging behind population growth. The country's growing agricultural sector is also a problem, sucking up drinkable water for crops and farm animals.

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has promised that piped water will reach all Indian households by 2024. He made the announcement on Saturday among a slew of other promises off the back of his convincing re-election victory in May.

"There are multiple causes, both climate and anthropogenic, and it's important to remember that both of those are important," said Veena Srinivasan, a fellow at Ashoka Trust for Research in Ecology and the Environment where she leads the Water, Land and Society Programme. She spoke to Good Morning Europe on Tuesday.

"Of course, the drought itself is caused by a deficit in precipitation, and climate change certainly has something to do with the changing precipitation patterns. But I think it's important for us to realise as a country that we can't absolve ourselves from the crisis that we ourselves have precipitated with mismanagement, and specifically by overextracting groundwater. One of the things that the Green Revolution did was to make groundwater a possibility for millions of Indian farmers, and then allow them to rise out of poverty. But what we didn't put in place was controls to make sure it wasn't overextracted, which is why we now have a crisis when in years when we don't have precipitation to fall back on."

Cape Town experienced a highly publicised water crisis in the middle of 2017, that saw severe water restrictions imposed. But it's difficult to compare one crisis to another, says Srinivasan.

"Drought in general is a problem globally. What has happened in a lot of the western countries is they aren't dependent on agriculture for their economies and for a large fraction of their population. It's still the developing world where agriculture is the major mainstay of the vast majority of the population in terms of livelihood. And so what happens in a lot of the developed world, is when there's a drought, you're able to displace the crisis by importing fruits and vegetables from other parts of the world that may not currently be suffering from drought. And so, you hear a lot about Europe buying asparagus from South America, for example. But I think that's very different from India, where even if wealthier people were able to buy imported grain and vegetables, the larger problem is what do you do with 600 million people whose way of life and income depends on groundwater which has now disappeared."

The estimate of 600 million farmers in India is the equivalent of 50 per cent of the country's entire population, creating a cycle of water use and water shortage that puts the entire system at risk.

"We need to remember that 70 per cent of farmers and 600 million people are dependent on agriculture for a way of life. And without rain and without irrigation, there is no livelihood for 600 million people. And that could precipitate a major crisis, both in terms of security and conflict, but also what are 600 million people going to do if there's nothing for them to do in villages? And so I think that we cannot understate the severity and the magnitude of this crisis." </s> Image copyright AFP Image caption About 11 million people in India have been hit by flooding

More than 16 million people have now been affected by seasonal flooding across a swathe of South Asia, say aid officials.

The floods in Nepal, Bangladesh and India are thought to have killed about 500 people and are expected to worsen.

The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) says it is becoming one of the worst regional humanitarian crises in years.

There are growing concerns about food shortages and disease.

Image copyright EPA Image caption These woman were seeking shelter and aid after fleeing flooding in Bangladesh

Martin Faller, IFRC's deputy regional director, said more than a third of Bangladesh and Nepal were flooded, while about 11 million people across four northern Indian states were also affected.

Tens of thousands of people have been displaced.

"This is fast becoming one of the most serious humanitarian crises this region has seen in many years, and urgent action is needed to meet the growing needs of millions of people affected by these devastating floods," Mr Faller said in a statement.

"Millions of people across Nepal, Bangladesh and India face severe food shortages and disease caused by polluted flood waters."

Image copyright AFP Image caption Damage to farming land in Nepal is likely to lead to longer term food shortages

Bangladesh, where flood levels are already at a record high, is expected to be further hit as swollen Indian rivers flow down through it in the coming days.

Save the Children Director Mark Pierce said the situation there was "extremely desperate".

"The sheer volume of water is also making it really difficult to access some of the communities most in need."

Nepal's Red Cross Society said food crops there had been wiped out, as floods hit major farming and agricultural land in the south.

"We fear that this destruction will lead to severe food shortages," said Secretary General Dev Ratna Dhakhwa.

Further heavy rain has been forecast across the region in the coming days, worsening the flooding and making it harder to reach those affected.

Save The Children's India manager, Murali Kunduru, told Reuters that while the monsoon rains come annually, "this year is particularly severe". </s> According to a UN report, around 1.2 billion people, or almost one fifth of the world’s population, live in areas where water is physically scarce and another 1.6 billion people, or nearly one quarter of the world’s population, face economic water shortage. They lack basic access to water. The criticality of the water situation across the world has in fact given rise to speculations over water wars becoming a distinct possibility in the future. In India the problem is compounded, given the rising population and urbanization. The Asian Development Bank has forecast that by 2030, India will have a water deficit of 50%.

For urban India, the situation is critical. In 2015, about 377 million Indians lived in urban areas and by 2030, the urban population is expected to rise to 590 million. Already, according to the National Sample Survey, only 47% of urban households have individual water connections and about 40% to 50% of water is reportedly lost in distribution systems due to various reasons. Further, as per the 2011 census, only 32.7% of urban Indian households are connected to a piped sewerage system.

Any comprehensive solution to address the water problem in urban India needs to take into account the specific challenges around water management and distribution:

Pressure on water sources: Rising demand on water means rising pressure on water sources, especially in cities. In a city like Mumbai for example, 3,750 Million Litres per Day (MLD) of water, including water for commercial and industrial use, is available, whereas 4,500 MLD is needed. The primary sources of water for cities like Mumbai are lakes created by dams across rivers near the city. Distributing the available water means providing 386,971 connections to the city’s roughly 13 million residents. When distribution becomes challenging, the workaround is to tap ground water. According to a study by the Centre for Science and Environment, 48% of urban water supply in India comes from ground water. Ground water exploitation for commercial and domestic use in most cities is leading to reduction in ground water level.

Distribution and water loss issues: Distribution challenges, such as water loss due to theft, pilferage, leaky pipes and faulty meter readings, result in unequal and unregulated distribution of water. In New Delhi, for example, water distribution loss was reported to be about 40% as per a study. In Mumbai, where most residents get only 2-5 hours of water supply per day, the non-revenue water loss is about 27% of the overall water supply. This strains the municipal body’s budget and impacts the improvement of distribution infrastructure. Factors such as difficult terrain and legal issues over buildings also affect water supply to many parts. According to a study, only 5% of piped water reaches slum areas in 42 Indian cities, including New Delhi. A 2011 study also found that 95% of households in slum areas in Mumbai’s Kaula Bunder district, in some seasons, use less than the WHO-recommended minimum of 50 litres per capita per day.

Water pollution and contamination: In India, almost 400,000 children die every year of diarrhea, primarily due to contaminated water. According to a 2017 report, 630 million people in the South East Asian countries, including India, use faeces-contaminated drinking water source, becoming susceptible to a range of diseases. Industrial waste is also a major cause for water contamination, particularly antibiotic ingredients released into rivers and soils by pharma companies. A Guardian report talks about pollution from drug companies, particularly those in India and China, resulting in the creation of drug-resistant superbugs. The report cites a study which indicates that by 2050, the total death toll worldwide due to infection by drug resistant bacteria could reach 10 million people.

Addressing these challenges and improving access to clean water for all needs a combination of short-term and medium-term solutions. It also means involving the community and various stakeholders in implementing the solutions. This is the crux of the recommendations put forth by BASF.

The proposed solutions, based on a study of water issues in cities such as Mumbai, take into account different aspects of water management and distribution. Backed by a close understanding of the cost implications, they can make a difference in tackling urban water challenges. These solutions include:

Recycling and harvesting: Raw sewage water which is dumped into oceans damages the coastal eco-system. Instead, this could be used as a cheaper alternative to fresh water for industrial purposes. According to a 2011 World Bank report, 13% of total freshwater withdrawal in India is for industrial use. What’s more, the industrial demand for water is expected to grow at a rate of 4.2% per year till 2025. Much of this demand can be met by recycling and treating sewage water. In Mumbai for example, 3000 MLD of sewage water is released, almost 80% of fresh water availability. This can be purified and utilised for industrial needs. An example of recycled sewage water being used for industrial purpose is the 30 MLD waste water treatment facility at Gandhinagar and Anjar in Gujarat set up by Welspun India Ltd.

Another example is the proposal by Navi Mumbai Municipal Corporation (NMMC) to recycle and reclaim sewage water treated at its existing facilities to meet the secondary purposes of both industries and residential complexes. In fact, residential complexes can similarly recycle and re-use their waste water for secondary purposes such as gardening.

Also, alternative rain water harvesting methods such as harvesting rain water from concrete surfaces using porous concrete can be used to supplement roof-top rain water harvesting, to help replenish ground water.

Community initiatives to supplement regular water supply: Initiatives such as community water storage and decentralised treatment facilities, including elevated water towers or reservoirs and water ATMs, based on a realistic understanding of the costs involved, can help support the city’s water distribution. Water towers or elevated reservoirs with onsite filters can also help optimise the space available for water distribution in congested cities. Water ATMs, which are automated water dispensing units that can be accessed with a smart card or an app, can ensure metered supply of safe water.

Testing and purification: With water contamination being a big challenge, the adoption of affordable and reliable multi-household water filter systems which are electricity free and easy to use can help, to some extent, access to safe drinking water at a domestic level. Also, the use of household water testing kits and the installation of water quality sensors on pipes, that send out alerts on water contamination, can create awareness of water contamination and drive suitable preventive steps.

Public awareness and use of technology: Public awareness campaigns, tax incentives for water conservation and the use of technology interfaces can also go a long way in addressing the water problem. For example, measures such as water credits can be introduced with tax benefits as incentives for efficient use and recycling of water. Similarly, government water apps, like that of the Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai, can be used to spread tips on water saving, report leakage or send updates on water quality.

Collaborative approach: Finally, a collaborative approach like the adoption of a public-private partnership model for water projects can help. There are already examples of best practices here. For example, in Netherlands, water companies are incorporated as private companies, with the local and national governments being majority shareholders. Involving citizens through social business models for decentralised water supply, treatment or storage installations like water ATMs, as also the appointment of water guardians who can report on various aspects of water supply and usage can help in efficient water management. Grass-root level organizations could be partnered with for programmes to spread awareness on water safety and conservation.

For BASF, the proposed solutions are an extension of their close engagement with developing water management and water treatment solutions. The products developed specially for waste and drinking water treatment, such as Zetag® ULTRA and Magnafloc® LT, focus on ensuring sustainability, efficiency and cost effectiveness in the water and sludge treatment process.

BASF is also associated with operations of Reliance Industries’ desalination plant at Jamnagar in Gujarat.The thermal plant is designed to deliver up to 170,000 cubic meters of processed water per day. The use of inge® ultrafiltration technologies allows a continuous delivery of pre-filtered water at a consistent high-quality level, while the dosage of the Sokalan® PM 15 I protects the desalination plant from scaling. This combination of BASF’s expertise minimises the energy footprint of the plant and secures water supply independent of the seasonal fluctuations. To know more about BASF’s range of sustainable solutions and innovative chemical products for the water industry, see here.

This article was produced by the Scroll marketing team on behalf of BASF and not by the Scroll editorial team. </s> A humanitarian crisis is unfolding across large areas of South Asia, with more than 16 million people affected by monsoon floods in Nepal, Bangladesh and India, the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies said in statement in Kathmandu on Friday.

“This is fast becoming one of the most serious humanitarian crises this region has seen in many years and urgent action is needed to meet the growing needs of millions of people affected by these devastating floods,” said Martin Faller, deputy regional director for Asia Pacific, International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC).

“Millions of people across Nepal, Bangladesh and India face severe food shortages and disease caused by polluted flood waters,” he said.

Flood levels have already reached record highs in Bangladesh, according to local authorities. Flooding of major rivers such as the Jamuna has surpassed levels since 1988 - the deadliest floods Bangladesh ever faced.

“More than one-third of Bangladesh and Nepal have been flooded and we fear the humanitarian crisis will get worse in the days and weeks ahead,” Faller said.

In Nepal, many areas remain cut off after the most recent floods and landslides on August 11 and 12. Villages and communities are stranded without food, water and electricity.

“This tragic flooding in Nepal has claimed at least 128 lives and 33 people are still missing,” said Dev Ratna Dhakhwa, secretary general of the Nepal Red Cross Society.

Red Cross is providing aid to people, including tarpaulins for temporary shelter, food and water.

Food crops have been wiped out by the floods in Nepal’s major farming and agricultural lands in the south of the country. “We fear that this destruction will lead to severe food shortages,” Dhakhwa said.

In India, more than 11 million people have been affected by floods in four states across the country’s north. India's meteorological department is forecasting more heavy rain in the coming days. Volunteers from Indian Red Cross and Bangladesh Red Crescent are working non-stop along with local authorities to help communities be safe and prepare for worsening floods.

The IFRC has released millions of dollars in late July to support the immediate needs of 25,000 of the worst affected people in eastern Bangladesh, India and Nepal. With the full picture of needs still emerging, this support may increase in the coming days, it said.

In Bangladesh, floods are likely to get worse as swollen rivers from India pour into the low-lying and densely populated areas in the north and center of the country. Over 3.9 million people have been affected by the rising flood waters. </s> Millions of people are turning to water tank trucks in the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu as house and hotel taps run dry in an acute water shortage caused by drying lakes and depleted groundwater.

State Rural Development Minister S.P. Velumani said Wednesday that the drought follows a 62% shortfall in monsoon rains last year compared to 2017.

People are lining up for water cans in the state capital of Chennai.

Top elected official K. Palaniswami said the state has diminishing groundwater supplies and has asked other states for spare water until October's monsoon rains.

Monsoons reach different parts of India at different times.

Northern and eastern India have experienced heatwaves with temperatures soaring to 48 Celsius (118 Fahrenheit) amid a delayed monsoon. </s> • Chennai, India's sixth largest city, is suffering from an acute water storage after a historic drought. Many of the region's reservoirs are almost completely dry.
• Residents have been forced to line up for hours for tanked-in water or have attempted to collect water from holes dug in lake beds.
• Satellite images and photos on the ground have captured what it's like living through the drought and its effect on the city's water supplies.

Residents of Chennai (formerly Madras) in southern India are running out of water.

Since 2017, due to low rainfall and a failed monsoon season, nearly all of Chennai's four major water bodies are drying up, India Today reported.

The crisis means that the majority of Chennai has depended heavily on water trucked in by the government.

These photos show the effects of the drought from the sky and on the ground for the over 6 million people who live in the area. </s> Millions of people are turning to water tank trucks in the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu as house and hotel taps run dry because of an acute water shortage caused by drying lakes and depleted groundwater.

State Rural Development Minister S.P. Velumani said on Wednesday that the drought followed a 62 per cent shortfall in monsoon rains last year compared to 2017.

People are lining up for water cans in the state capital, Chennai.

Hotels in the southeastern city of 4.6 million are rationing water for guests amid searing heat.

A shepherd walks with his livestock at the dried out Puzhal reservoir on the outskirts of Chennai. Water levels in the city's four main reservoirs have fallen to some of their lowest levels in decades. (Arun Sankar/AFP/Getty Images)

All four reservoirs that supply Chennai, known as the Detroit of south Asia for its flourishing automobile industry, have run dry this summer, largely because of poor monsoon rains last year.

Chennai is one of 21 cities that a government think-tank warned last year could run out of ground water by 2020. This year's monsoon is delayed, further compounding problems across a swath of western and central India.

Water storage levels in the city's four major reservoirs were one-hundredth of what they were this time last year — and at a mere 0.2 per cent of capacity, according to state government data.

People in New Delhi are also being forced to rely on tankers delivering water amid a searing heat wave. (Anushree Fadnavis/Reuters)

Some companies have asked employees to work from home. Some restaurants are closing early and even considering not serving lunch if the water scarcity worsens.

Gauri Shankar, general manager of Hotel Deccan Plaza in Chennai, said two tank trucks bring water to the hotel every day from a town 60 kilometres away at a cost of 4,000 rupees ($76) each.

"Even a water tanker is proving difficult to get in the city. We are getting our supply because we entered into a contract with a supplier in September as the water taps started going dry," Shankar said by phone.

Women fetch water from an opening made by residents at a dried-up lake in Chennai. (P. Ravikumar/Reuters)

Top elected official K. Palaniswami said the state has diminishing groundwater supplies and has asked other states for spare water until October's monsoon rains.

Monsoons reach different parts of India at different times.

Northern and eastern India have experienced heat waves with temperatures soaring to 48 Celsius amid a delayed monsoon. At least 90 people have died due to heat stroke in the eastern state of Bihar since June, according to the state disaster management department.

This year's monsoon arrived in the southern state of Kerala a week late and slowly started moving to other parts of country.

India is facing a 43 per cent shortfall in monsoon rains across the country because of its late arrival, according to the India Meteorological Department.

Meteorologists said monsoon rains usually cover two-thirds of the country by mid-June. However, they currently have reached less than half that area. But the monsoon's progress is expected to pick up in the next 10 days. </s> With a historic drought underway in neighbouring India, the fear that Pakistan will face a similar situation soon is very real. Hundreds of villages in India have been evacuated after temperatures in Delhi hit 48C. Up to 90 percent of those living in villages just 250 miles from India’s commercial capital, Mumbai, have been left deserted as well, as hand pumps and tubewells have run dry. Three-fourths of the crops cultivated in Karnataka and Maharashtra have been hit by drought and crop failure. Officials say that the situation is worse than the 1972 famine that affected 25 million people in the state. Water tankers have been supplying water to villages to keep life going, but one must wonder for how long that can continue. It is estimated that 43 percent of India was experiencing drought by the end of May. There is no water left in 35 major dams while water levels are below 8 percent in 1,000 smaller dams. Groundwater, which provides 40 percent of India’s water, is depleting so fast that 21 major cities in that country could run out of water by 2020.

Is what is happening across the border a scenario that Pakistan is moving headfirst into? There is little doubt that Pakistan too has been facing a water crisis for decades. Hydrologists claim that Pakistan’s groundwater level is falling a meter every year due to extraction for drinking and for agriculture. Falling water tables is a situation that we need to avoid at all costs. Groundwater is the final defence in the face of any fall in rainfall, and long periods of drought. Instead, we have a situation where the groundwater we have is being polluted by untreated sewage. Pakistan is reported to have the world’s fourth largest groundwater aquifer, which can be a permanent defence against drought, but instead the country contributes to nine percent of the global use of groundwater. This means that the Indus Basin aquifer is the second most ‘overstressed’ groundwater basis in the world.

Groundwater provides 60 percent of the water requirement in agriculture, 90 percent for drinking use and 100 percent in industry. What this essentially means is that Pakistan is estimated to be removing 10 bcm more groundwater than is being replenished each year. Much of the problem is down to poor irrigation management, where over 60 percent water is lost in the application process. There appears to be no framework or laws to deal with the extraction of groundwater in Pakistan, despite the fact that the National Water Policy 2018 committed to passing laws on the use of groundwater. In Pakistan, the signs of water stress are everywhere. Pakistan needs to act before we get to a position like that of India’s, where entire villages have been evacuated to save them from drought.
Millions of people in southeast India face water shortages due to drought and depleted groundwater.