Context: Recently, the WorldWide Fund for Nature (WWF) has released the WWF Water Risk Filter.
About Water Risk Filter 

• It is an online tool that helps evaluate the severity of risk of various places that can contribute to water risk.

Key highlights of the Water Risk Filter 2020
Global scenario

• 100 cities worldwide, including 30 in India, face the risk of ‘severe water scarcity’ by 2050.

These 100 cities are

• home to 350 million people
• Globally important economies.
• Populations could rise from 17% in 2020 to 51% by 2050.
• China accounts for almost half the cities.

Indian scenario

• Top 3 Indian cities facing severe water scarcity by 2050: i) Jaipur, ii) Indore and iii) Thane.
• Mumbai, Kolkata and Delhi also featured on the list.

Suggestions for India

• Nature-based solutions like restoration of urban watersheds and wetlands could be used against flooding and water scarcity.
• Smart Cities initiative could offer an integrated urban water management framework combining urban planning and ecosystem restoration for building water smart and climate resilient cities.
• Urban planning and wetland conservation needed to be integrated to ensure zero loss of freshwater systems in the urban areas.
• Scale up Local initiatives: There are many initiatives in India that could be scaled up where local groups have come together and revived wetlands such as Bashettihalli wetland in Bengaluru and the Sirpur Lake in Indore.
• Public funding pool: A public funding pool needed to be created in collaboration with the private sector to fuel sustainable economic growth.

Water Management in India

• Under the Indian Constitution, water is the responsibility of the states.
• The Inter-State Water Disputes Act of 1956 provides a framework for the resolution of possible conflicts on water disputes between states.
• Central government is responsible for water management in UTs and in charge of developing policy for all the states.

Main institutions involved in water resources management

• Ministry of Water Resources (MWR): Responsible for laying down policy guidelines for the country’s water resources
• Planning Commission: Responsible for the allocation of financial resources required for various programmes of water resources development to the states as well as to the MWR.
• Ministry of Agriculture: Promotes irrigated agriculture through its Department of Agriculture and Cooperation.
• Indian National Committee of Irrigation and Drainage (INCID): Coordinates with the International Commission on Irrigation and Drainage (ICID) and promotes research in the relevant areas.
• Central Pollution Control Board: In charge of water quality monitoring, and the preparation and implementation of action plans to solve pollution problems.
• Central Groundwater Authority: Established in 1996 to regulate groundwater development.

Command Area Development (CAD) Programme

• The centrally sponsored Command Area Development (CAD) Programme was launched in 1974-75.
• It has been restructured and renamed as the ‘Command Area Development and Water Management (CADWM)’ Programme in 2004.
• Objective: Improving the utilization of the area equipped for irrigation and optimizing agricultural production and productivity from irrigated agriculture.

National Water Policy 2002

• It seeks to address issues such as the scarcity of water, inequities in its distribution and the lack of a unified perspective in planning of water resources.
• It proposes a legal framework of general principles on water that can used by states to draft their own legislation on water governance.
• Objective: to take cognizance of the existing situation and to propose a framework for creation laws and institutions and for a plan of action with a unified national perspective