This would have made it the first city in the world to run out of water.
Schools were closed for five days and people had to wait for over four days to get a little water.
It states that India is suffering from the worst water crisis in its history and millions of lives and livelihoods are under threat.
Situation in States The Water Index scores for FY16-17, which have been arrived from the data of several indicators — covering groundwater restoration, irrigation management, on-farm water use, rural and urban drinking water supply, water policy frameworks, etc — vary widely across States.
Several of the high and medium performers — Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Telangana — are States that have suffered from severe droughts in recent years.
Food Security at Risk Most States have achieved less than 50% in the augmentation of groundwater resources, highlighting a growing national crisis — 54% of India’s groundwater wells are declining, and 21 major cities are expected to run out of groundwater as soon as 2020, affecting 100 million people.
States have also performed averagely on providing safe drinking water to rural areas.
With 800 million people, or 70% of the country’s population living in rural areas, this is one of our most critical service delivery challenges.
Moreover, India faces significant risks as the low performers on the Water Index are home to 50% of the country’s population and its agricultural baskets.
The poor performance of these States on the Index highlights a significant water management risk for the country, especially since these States account for 20-30% of India’s agricultural output.