Why Does India Have Severe Water Problems?

17.5% of the world’s population lives in one country- India. That is roughly 1.4 billion people in one area that could fit into the U.S. three times over. With a population this dense, India has severe water problems- but how did they originate?

First of all, the intense population growth. In 1951, India had 3,000-4,000 cubic meters of water per person. India, as of 2011, had 1,000 cubic meters of water per person per year. Generally, a country has water problems if they have less than 1,700 cubic meters of water per person. Another cause for these issues comes from the unwillingness to invest in good water treatment plants in urban areas. The facilities are not at all kept up to the task of providing water for so many people due to lack of monetary resources (the fees for water service are too low to keep the facilities maintained).This is a problem because without up-to-date water treatment facilities, people rely on the rivers. However, India’s sacred rivers are some of the dirtiest in the world- people bathe in them daily for spiritual cleansing and for lack of water otherwise. According to Syama Allard, in “If India’s rivers are so revered, why are they so polluted and what are Hindus doing about it?”, “While there are a number of sources contributing to the degradation of India’s waters, the primary cause, invariably, is industrialization. Take, for example, the Yamuna. The largest tributary of the Ganges and crystal clear at its source, by the time it makes its way through the eastern edge of India’s capital, New Delhi, it emerges as the country’s filthiest river.” New Delhi is notoriously polluted and cramped, with levels of pollution several tiers above Beijing, and the Yamuna clearly takes a lot of the pollution with it. These rivers add to India’s water uncleanliness because over 400 million people rely on the water in the dirty rivers to support their livelihoods! Finally, there is little groundwater left over for people because farmers extract it for irrigation. Farmers are allowed to pump out any amount of groundwater as long as it is on their land. This can seriously deplete drinking water resources. Overall, India faces serious water issues due to increased population growth and density, poorly maintained facilities, and groundwater extraction.