The list prepared NITI Aayog also warns that over 21 cities, including Delhi, Hyderabad and Bengaluru will lose groundwater by 2021.
Crisis, crisis, crisis!
The looming water shortage strikes fear in the heart of every urban dweller and a recent report by the NITI Aayog only underlines those worries.
According to the report, India is suffering from its worst ever water crisis.
Experts, who all decry the option of inter-linking rivers, say there is no reason yet to panic and that the water shortage can be mitigated with practices like rain-water harvesting and groundwater recharge.
The report notes that more than two -thirds of rural Karnataka does not have access to drinking water and despite the state being properly rain-fed, it continues to suffer from drought.
The report estimates that by 2030, the water demand will double the supply , leading to severe water scarcity and eventually to around a 6 per cent loss in the country’s GDP.
The list prepared by Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s think tank too warns that over 21 cities, including Delhi, Hyderabad and Bengaluru will lose groundwater by 2021.
Having made its alarming forecast, NITI Aayog has developed a Composite Water Management Index (CWMI) for effective water management in Indian states in the face of the growing crisis.
But it suggests the state needs to improve its groundwater rejuvenation as only six per cent of the critical and over exploited wells have risen in level.

Residents of Kawalasee accuse politicians of promising them piped water during elections only to get their votes.
But in a sad turn of events, residents of Kawalasee village, situated a kilometre from Lodwar Town, are faced with a serious shortage of water, just a month after the heavy rains across the country.
This happening as residents of some regions are yet to return to their homes because their houses are still filled with flood waters.
Residents are now digging out drying river beds in search of the precious commodity.
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They would then use plastic cup to scoop the water and pour it into jerrycans.
She said filling a 20-litre jerrycan takes hours.
"You have to be there early to dig a hole and wait for it to fill up with water from the soil.
The Turkana County Water and Sewerage Services Bill 2018 advocates for provision of clean and safe water in adequate quantities, and reasonable standards of sanitation.
ALSO READ: Crude oil from Turkana arrives in Mombasa It provides penalties to those polluting water sources.

It’s a ticking time bomb.
The latest report by the Niti Aayog on water scarcity in the country makes a depressing reading.
By 2030, the country’s water demand is projected to be twice the available supply, implying severe water scarcity for millions of people and an eventual 6% loss in the country’s GDP.
With nearly 70% of water being contaminated, India is placed at 120 among 122 countries in the water quality index.
Groundwater is getting depleted at unsustainable rates.
The augmentation of watersheds that can store more groundwater for agricultural use and other purposes and strict enforcement of pollution control measures are the two key areas that require urgent attention.
The Water Index scores, which have been put together on the basis of 28 indicators including groundwater, restoration of water bodies, irrigation, and drinking water, are below 50% in most States.
As many as 15 of the 24 States studied are categorised as low performers.
There is a need for adopting a user-centric approach to water management, especially in agriculture.
Rapid adoption of technologies that help conserve, treat and reuse water is the need of the hour.

(Image source from: Hindustantimes.com) Hyderabad And Bengaluru To Run Out Of Groundwater By 2020:- A Government ground report stated that Hyderabad and Bengaluru will lose the groundwater completely by 2020.
Three months after BBC report declared that Bengaluru will be one among the cities in the world to reach Day Zero, the NITI Aayog meet took place yesterday in New Delhi.
The national capital too has been in the list to reach groundwater levels which will have a huge impact on over 100 million people.
The list has been released as a part of ‘Composite Water Management Index: A Tool for Water Management 2017’ by Niti Aayog.
Niti Aayog works for Government that promotes co-operative federalism and is a part of Planning Commission.
Despite of several areas suffering with water scarcity, 21 major cities including New Delhi, Hyderabad and Bengaluru are expected to reach zero groundwater levels.
Despite of Karnataka the fourth best state for water resource management, Bengaluru has been turning worse.40% of our water supply are being depleted at unsustainable rates.

The coined “Day Zero” was initially to be expected this April, and with careful conservation of water, it was later pushed back to May 11.
This past week, however, Day Zero was pushed back to 2019, with no official prediction date.
Officials have stated that when Day Zero arrives, the government will turn off the pipes and begin rationing water.
Since the initial prediction, the city asked everyone to use less water, but over half the population ignored the warning.
“We’re using too much water, and we can’t contain it.
It’s tragic.” Cape Town recognized 20 years ago that this dreaded future may soon arrive.
Though the city’s population nearly doubled during this time, Cape Town excelled at managing its water resources.
As my colloquium professor would say, the city was managing its problem during the good times, but failed to prepare for a change in weather.
Day Zero in Cape Town may have been pushed back, but it’s still coming.
Cape Town isn’t the only major city in the world fighting a water crisis.

Tourists arriving in Shimla have been asked by the hotels to arrange for drinking water on their own or return;and locals are defecating in open to avoid water shortage, reports Rakesh Rocky Hills are not calling you’’!
The administration has less than half of the water available to meet the total demand of the city per day.
People are getting water after a gap of five days and that too for a teeny-weeny time.
In May, the sewerage water got mixed with drinking water supply in the city which caused health problems to at least half dozen people.
The major sources of water supply to the city of Shimla are Gumma, Giri, Churath, Cheyad and Koti Brandi.
In Ashwani Khad, the testing of water got failed recently, resulting in no water supply from this main source of water in Shimla.
Before the court directions, people were angry over the ill-treatment of water supply in the city.
Now, after the strictness of the court, many hotels stranded without getting more water are taking new tourists or asking them to make arrangements for drinking water themselves.
According to Vineet Chaudhary, the chief secretary of the state government, the reason for the water supply being done in Shimla was that the water sources got dried in the Gumma drinking water source.
The association also said that if there was such a shortage of water, then why not there is lack of water in homes of VIPs and hotels.

Alarmingly, 60% of states (14 out of 24) have achieved scores below 50 and have been classified as Low performers as mentioned in the report.
As per the report, one of the critical challenge driving this crisis is the lack of water data.
Data systems related to water in the country are limited in their coverage, robustness, and efficiency.
This crisis is further driven by a poorly defined legal framework for groundwater that rests ownership with landowners and leads to unchecked extraction.
Composite Water Management Index ‘Composite Water Management Index’ measures both the overall progress made by states in water management and the incremental improvement in performance across time.
The central government should provide financial incentives to states to improve performance in irrigation management.
Linking of the national rivers will be very effective to avert water shortage.
Currently, 600 million Indians face high to extreme water stress and about two lakh people die every year due to the deprivation of safe water.
It is believed that by 2030, the country’s water demand will pass twice the available supply, implying severe water scarcity for hundreds of millions of people and an eventual 6% loss in the country’s GDP as per the report.
Currently, India is ranked 120th amongst 122 countries in the water quality index, and 70% of the water is contaminated, as reported by Times of India Also published on Medium.

LONDON, NNC – The United Nations (UN) through the Agriculture and Food Organization (FAO) reported that countries in North Africa and the Middle East should better prepare for drought disasters as water shortages are projected to worsen.
Over the last 40 years, droughts have lasted longer and are relatively frequent in the region, where clean water sources are among the lowest in the world.
"It looks like things will get worse due to climate change," said Rene Castro, deputy head of the FAO climate office, in a statement, Friday (6/15/2010).
"We need to look at and manage drought differently, and move from emergency response to proactive and long-term planning policies to reduce risks and build greater resilience," he said.
The report recommends planting plants that need little water, using more efficient irrigation systems of water, or lowering the number of livestock to prevent much grass consumption.
A number of villages in the southwestern part of Morocco near the Sahara desert have also used a water vapor collection project to process vapor into water to overcome water shortage.
Population and food demands, coupled with increasingly scarce water and land resources, could lead to food prices doubling and triggering civil unrest in some developing countries.
According to a UN World Water Development report in 2018 released by the United Nations, water scarcity has affected more than 40 percent of the world’s population.
"That number could rise as a result of global warming, with one in four people projected to face chronic shortages or shortcomings by 2050," he explained.

Area corporator Atmaram Malviya said that despite being repeatedly informed about the problem, officials were yet act.
A contract was signed with Tapi company to install pipelines in the ward but in vain.
Several areas lacked even a single source of water.
Despite a survey, pipelines are yet to be laid.
Vashishtha said presently all the water sources were exhausted.
The people demanded that water tankers should be increased to maintain uninterrupted water supply.
In the presence of Madhav Nagar Block Congress committee president Ajit Singh Thakur people demanded from collector to resolve their problem on immediate basis.
Residents still waiting for benefits Madhopura village has not been included in the Pradhan Mantri Aawas Yojana with the other colonies of ward number 40.
People who have blocks near railway line in Madhopura were still not getting benefit of this scheme.
The people submitted memorandum to the collector and demanded to get benefit of Pradhan Mantri Aawas Yojana.

India is facing its worst-ever water crisis, with some 600 million people facing acute water shortage, a government think-tank says.
The Niti Aayog report, which draws on data from 24 of India’s 29 states, says the crisis is "only going to get worse" in the years ahead.
It also warns that 21 cities are likely to run out of groundwater by 2020 despite increasing demand.
This would also threaten food security as 80% of water is used in agriculture.
The Indian ‘water mother’ helping villages Around 200,000 Indians die every year because they have no access to clean water, according to the report.
Winding queues of people waiting to collect water from tankers or public taps is a common sight in Indian slums.
Water scarcity would also account for a 6% loss in India’s gross domestic product (GDP).
Some Indian states, however, are doing a better job than others in managing their water.
Gujarat in the west topped the report’s rankings.
It was closely followed by Madhya Pradesh in central India and Andhra Pradesh in the south.