News / Reports

Indian cities face water crisis

Monday, 23 March 2015 11:57 PM [ Last Update: Monday, 23 March 2015 11:57 PM ]

Munawar Zaman
Press TV, New Delhi

It’s a day break; people have started to gather whatever they can; buckets, jerry cans, tubes and even bottles to fetch clean drinking water. Here it arrives; a water tanker that people queue up for every morning to get water for their daily use.

This neighborhood on the outer edge of the capital New Delhi never had running water pipes in its homes.

Given the ever increasing population in India, the demand for water is rapidly growing, the ponds have dried up long ago while rivers and streams are filled with rubbish and are turning to sewers. Ground water levels have also fallen due to over extraction; industrial pumps are usually needed to bring the water to the surface.

With the passage of each year the quality of available ground water worsens due to country’s dismal state of sanitation, most of the sewage is untreated and flows into rivers and streams. The water is often contaminated and people complain of stomach and skin problems. In most areas on the outer edge of the capital Delhi its daily routine, a beeline of people on a water tanker. Reports say Average demand of portable water in the capital Delhi is 1100 million gallons per day but the treatment plants in Delhi hardly produce up to 800 Million gallons per day.

Experts say ground water levels in India are dropping on an alarming rate and the country faces serious water security threats from both supply and quality. They say the situation may only worsen given the growing population.

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