Maharashtra, reeling under a drought, cut off water supply to many manufacturing units and power plants, driving them to financial losses from the disruption in production schedules.
Experts say that the economic cost of water is likely to be high. According to a World Bank report published last year, “water scarcity will cost India six per cent of its GDP, if it continues to mismanage water resources by 2050 by affecting business, agriculture, income and property”.
“Drought in ten states of India is estimated to impact the economy by at least Rs 6,50,000 crore as about 33 crore people across 256 districts are facing the grave situation,” states a study by the Columbia Water Centre and Ficci, titled, ‘India’s Deepening Water Crisis, Water Risks for Indian Industries’.
Since ground water is the source of 70 per cent of the country’s water for irrigation, 80 per cent of the water for domestic use and 55 per cent of the water for industrial use, the struggle for this scarce resource will only intensify.
Industry, which is now responsible for six per cent of the country’s total water consumption, will soon be using up 11 per cent of it.
During drought months, the state’s water allocation policies give priority to drinking and agricultural use.
India’s thermal power plants, which consume 22 billion cubic meters of water a year, lost out on roughly 30.1 terawatt-hours (TWh) of thermal electricity generation since 2013 owing to the water scarcity, according to a study by World Resource Institute.