Currently, India is battling one of its biggest challenges: Access to drinking water scarcity in India. This issue increases day by day because of factors such as growing population, rapid urbanization and growing demand for water from agriculture, energy, and industry.

Access to drinking water is a question of both, public and domestic health. UNICEF reports that only a quarter of the total population in India has drinking water on their premises and approximately three-quarters of all diseases in India are caused by contaminated water.

To ensure equal access to water for all, the water sector has to act on five main requirements:

1. Capitalize on existing assets

Optimizing water production and treatment plants, water networks and reservoirs is the first step for water scarcity in India. The trick here is to use water in the same capacity, instead of waiting for new infrastructures to be built. It is important for management to be efficient in order to extend the scope of existing services.

1. Adapt services to ensure affordability

Ownership of assets and the setting of tariffs are the responsibility of the public sector. One of the main challenges is to ensure that individual connections are cost-effective and tariffs are not prohibitive for poor people.

1. Create local customer services

Offering the most well-adapted customer service to everyone by targeting their needs should be followed by every water operator. Such designed services in partnership with elected representatives are sure to meet the expectations of the common man.

1. Apply the notion of ‘Social Business’

With the global economic crisis and growing discontent created by mainstream capitalism, new business models are emerging. ‘Social Business’ is one such model which is quite talked about. However, water operators face the challenge of testing new models while creating water accessibility to peri-urban and rural areas. To resolve this issue, Veolia Water and Grameen Healthcare set up a quality water service for two villages in Bangladesh where the country’s groundwater reserves weren’t deep and were naturally contaminated by lethal arsenic levels.

1. Speak to users and raise awareness

Technological expertise can’t solve the problem of water scarcity in India alone, social support is needed too. Communicating the relation between water, good hygiene and health should be one’s primary responsibility.

Access to drinking water scarcity in India is a concern that everyone faces in India, rich or poor. By distributing water 24*7, everyone can have equal access.

Reference: https://thelostlife.home.blog/2019/06/12/how-to-solve-water-scarcity-in-india/

Millions of people across the globe don’t have access to water. Approximately 70% of Earth’s surface is covered in water with only 3% being freshwater that is fit for human consumption. 2/3^rd of the water is in glaciers and remains inaccessible to humans. A study revealed that 1.1 billion people across the globe don’t have access to water and 2.7 billion people remain without water for at least a month during a calendar year.

Finding clean water is very rare these days. Many people across the globe put in their efforts the entire day and are unable to find it. However, people who get clean and safe drinking water seem to not utilize water in the best possible manner.

Water scarcity in India comes in various forms: It can be in the form of the water crisis, water shortage, water deficit or water stress. There are 2 types of water scarcity: Physical and Economic. Physical water scarcity is seen when natural water resources don’t meet a region’s water demand and economic water scarcity is a result of poor water management resources.

Some of the Effects of Water Scarcity in India are as follows:

1. Drinking Water inaccessible in many areas: It is observed that many people are not able to get clean, drinking water. The human body has a limit to which it can withstand not having water and not getting water can result in many problems.

1.  Hunger: The primary resource for India’s food comes from farmers who leave no stone unturned to keep their crops healthy. If there is no water, crops won’t grow and people will go hungry. Animals would die as well, which would lead to no production of meat.

1. Lack of Education: If water isn’t accessible to people, many children in families will also fall sick and would be unable to attend school as well.

1. Diseases: In case of no access to clean water, humans will be more prone to chronic diseases like jaundice, irrespective of the water being used for cooking or for bathing. And if the situation gets severe, it can result in death as well.

1. Sanitation Issues: Without clean water, you can’t get clean food, clean dishes or people. If people are not given access to proper sanitation, diseases become a major issue. It even causes mental health issues, including depression and anxiety.

1. Poverty: People who face the problem of water scarcity in India are usually poor. They don’t get the proper resources on time and are barely able to survive in difficult times.

Reference: https://thelostlife.home.blog/2019/06/04/effects-of-water-scarcity-in-india/