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.