Context: UNESCO has recently released the United Nations World Water Development Report of 2022.

About United Nations World Water Development Report (UN WWDR)

• WWDR is the UN’s flagship report on water and sanitation issues which focuses on a different theme each year.

• WWDR is published by UNESCO, on behalf of UN-Water.

• The production of the report is coordinated by the UNESCO World Water Assessment Programme.

• WWDR provides insight on key trends concerning the state, use and management of freshwater and sanitation, based on work done by the Members and Partners of UN-Water.

• Until 2012, the WWDR was released every three years. In 2012, the UN-Water Members decided to release WWDR every year. 

Background

• The report highlights the concerns about the sharp decline in the freshwater available in streams, lakes, aquifers and other human-made reservoirs.

• The report also notes that there is impending water stress and various regions across the world are witnessing water scarcity.

• Much before, in 2007, the theme of World Water Day (observed on the 22nd of March every year) was “Coping with water scarcity”.

• Further, the latest Water Report of the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) also pointed out the consequences of a silent crisis on a global scale, with lakhs of people facing the brunt of water scarcity.

• According to the Water Scarcity Clock which is an interactive web tool, more than 200 crore people across the world are witnessing high water stress and the numbers are expected to rise.

Increasing water stress in India and its associated concerns

• As per the Global Drought Risk and Water Stress map (2019), the major parts of India, especially in the west, central and a few areas of peninsular India are experiencing high water stress and water scarcity. 

• A NITI Aayog report named the “Composite Water Management Index” (2018) has also pointed out the worst water crisis in the country, with over 60 crore people experiencing severe water shortages. 

• Usually, in places that are experiencing high water scarcity, water is transferred to these areas from the upper catchments or water is drawn from stored surface water bodies or aquifers.

• However, this kind of policy usually gives rise to sectoral or regional competition.

• The issue of rural-urban transfer of water is a similar issue which is of global concern.

• There has been an increase in the transboundary transfer of water between rural and urban areas in several countries since the early 20th century. 

• According to a study in 2019, urban water infrastructure imports around 500 billion litres of water per day across a total distance of over 27,000 km worldwide.

• A minimum of 12% of the large cities in the world rely on inter-basin transfers.

• A United Nations report on “Transboundary Waters Systems – Status and Trend” published in 2016 connected the issue of water transfer with many Sustainable Development Goals proposed to be achieved from 2015 to 2030. 

• The report highlighted the risks associated with water transfer in three categories namely biophysical, socio-economic and governance. 

• The South Asian region which includes India has been placed under the category of high biophysical and the highest socio-economic risks.

The usage of water in urban areas

• As per the data from the Census 2011, the urban population in India constituted 34% of the overall population distributed in about 7,935 towns of all classes and it is said that the urban population proportion in India will breach the 40% mark by 2030 and the 50% mark by 2050 (World Urbanization Prospects, 2018). 

• The urban population constituted 50% of the overall worldwide population by the end of the 20th century. 

• Despite India’s rate of urbanisation being comparatively slow, it is still urbanising at a swift rate and the share of the urban population is significant. 

• This has resulted in an increase in the use of water in the urban areas and with increased migration towards these areas the per capita use of water will also increase significantly. 

• Improved standards of living are also another factor for an increase in water usage.

According to the urban water management trajectory

• In the initial stages when a city is small – the key concern is with the water supply which is resolved in most cases by sourcing the water locally and the use of groundwater. 

• As the city grows – the water management infrastructure begins to develop and the reliance now shifts to surface water.

• As the city grows further – water sources also shift further towards the hinterlands and most of the time the allocation of urban water is increased at the expense of water for irrigation. 

• The supply of water to urban areas has now become a subject of inter-basin and inter-state transfers of water.

The case of Ahmedabad

• Over 80% of the water supply in Ahmedabad was met from groundwater sources until the mid-1980s. 

• As the depth to groundwater level has reached 67 metres in confined aquifers, Ahmedabad now relies on the water from the Narmada canal. 

• This has marked a shift from local groundwater to canal water supply from an inter-State and inter-basin transfer of surface water.

The existing risk of rural-urban dispute

• The reliance on groundwater continues especially in the peri-urban areas in large cities that have switched to surface water sources. 

• While surface water transfer from rural to urban areas is visible and can be measured, the recharge areas of groundwater aquifers are spread over large areas which often extend beyond the city boundaries.

• Irrespective of the source being surface or groundwater, urban areas are largely dependent on rural areas for raw water supply, which in the future can trigger a rural-urban conflict.

• As per various studies on cities like Nagpur and Chennai, there is an imminent challenge of rural-urban water disputes that the country is going to face in the near future as the shortage of water continues to increase on account of climate change.

• Currently, the rural-urban water transfer is not an ideal situation as the water is transferred at the cost of rural areas and the agricultural sector. Further, in urban areas, most of this water is in the form of grey water which cannot be reused thereby contributing to water pollution.

Key Recommendations

• Through a system perspective and catchment scale-based approach, water sharing between rural and urban areas can be reallocated with a key focus on development, infrastructure investment, fostering a rural-urban partnership and adopting an integrated approach to water management.

• The existing institutional mechanisms can be strengthened to provide an opportunity to develop flexibility in water resource allocation by making various adjustments in the urbanising areas. 

• As the country is celebrating its 75th anniversary of Independence, it is time to analyse, monitor and conserve its water resources and at the same time, and also not compromise on the development process.

Road Ahead

• The water management and water transfer techniques currently in place pose an imminent threat of igniting several rural-urban water disputes as the water scarcity increases which is further aggravated by climate change. This warrants increased efforts towards creating a win-win situation for the sharing of water between the urban and rural areas.