10 Indian cities facing water scarcity in 2024

According to the Union Ministry of Agriculture, the groundwater level has fallen alarmingly due to India’s looming water crisis. A Composite Water Management Report 2019 states that the water demand will be twice its availability by the year 2030, indicating severe water scarcity. About 74% of the wheat-growing area and 65% of the rice-growing area will face significant levels of water scarcity by 2030, according to the same report. However, this report has been discontinued. 

As per the World Resource Institute's data, India is among the 25 countries which face extremely high water stress, annually. The water crisis would impact India economically also. As per some estimates, the country can experience a drop of 6% in its GDP, just due to the water crisis. As per a World Bank report, in the next 20 years, an estimated 60% of all of India’s aquifers will be at critical or over-exploited levels. 

Irrigation-based agriculture, overexploitation of groundwater, illegal digging of borewells, rapid urbanisation, lack of water recharge or shortage in city planning, are a few reasons why the water level has decreased in India significantly in the last couple of decades.

IN 2024, Nearly 75% of the lakes and tanks in 31 districts of Karnataka have dried up or are on the verge of doing so, with Tumakuru and Belagavi being the worst affected. This follows the consecutive failures of the southwest and northeast monsoons. With the next monsoon two months away, the depleting waterbodies are expected to worsen the ongoing water crisis in the state.

The minor irrigation department maintains the lakes and waterbodies in Karnataka. Out of 3,685 lakes, over 25% (964) are dry, while another 50% (1,846) have only 10-30% water, which may last only a few weeks due to high evaporation rates. Minor Irrigation Minister NS Boseraju told TOI that they are hoping for summer rains to bring relief.

"Across Karnataka, only 10 waterbodies (all in the south) are filled to capacity, thanks to the lift irrigation scheme. Otherwise, all waterbodies that typically receive inflow during the monsoons are either fully dried up or drying out. We hope that the summer showers over the past week can help replenish these waterbodies."

1. Bengaluru 

3.7 lakh authorized deep borewells are present in Bangalore as of 2019, but a significant number have gone dry. In a review meeting addressing the city's drinking water crisis in March, Karnataka's Chief Minister, Siddaramaiah, disclosed that nearly half of the 14,000 government-operated borewells in Bangalore, specifically 6,900 of them, have dried up.

Water from the Cauvery Basin is the primary source of water for the city, apart from the above-mentioned borewells. The city has a daily deficit of 500 million litres of drinking water. The citizens have to rely on tankers to meet their water needs, and sometimes they are quite expensive.

2. Chennai

Chennai is brutally facing a dire water crisis. As per the 2019 report, the four reservoirs that provide the majority of water supply are dried up, forcing restaurants, businesses, and schools to close and leaving residents to wait in line for hours for water from municipal or private tankers.

This will affect people with low incomes. Chennai is very horrifying because of the water crisis. But its geography is also its weakness. The cyclone-prone waters of the Bay of Bengal periodically surge into the city. Chennai is most dependent on  Rainfall, with up to 90% falling during the northeast monsoon season. 

1. Maharashtra

Maharashtra is facing a water crisis of unprecedented magnitude. With the level of water depleted in reservoirs and dams and the over-exploitation of groundwater, the Groundwater Survey and Development Authority (GSDA) has warned and set alarm bells ringing across the state.

Water tankers have become the sole source of water in parched regions. In 2019, the state government had to deploy the highest number of water tankers around the most crowded regions of the state to fulfil its needs. Owing to scanty rainfall since 2016, about 761 villages.

The groundwater levels have fallen dramatically since the Maharashtra Groundwater (Development and Management) Act, and the water extraction regulation was not implemented efficiently. Approximately 151 villages facing water scarcity.

2. Gujarat 

Despite rainfall in the state last monsoon, people were facing a water crisis. In 2021, the water level of the Narmada dam was approximately 115.75 meters. Gujarat is facing a massive water crisis. At present, Gujarat has only 2% of the country’s water resources and 5% of the population.

Further, more than 40% of rain flows into the sea as runoff every year due to the absence of water conservation structures. The state government has shown some willingness to fix the issue in the form of a document called Vision 2020 but nothing goes as per the plan.

More than 500 villages in 14 districts in Gujarat are dependent on tankers for water. The situation was worse in Saurashtra, Kutch and Northern Gujarat. Except for the Narmada dam and the Sardar Sarovar canal, other water reservoirs have remained exhausted.

The Gujarat Department of Drinking Water and Sanitation, Ministry of Jal Shakti, resolved to implement the Jal Jeevan Mission, aiming to ensure that each rural household has a tap connection.

3. Karnataka

The crisis in Karnataka causes severe agrarian distress in the eastern plains but also creates a shortage of domestic water. As many as 19,00 villages in about 30 districts facing drought-like conditions and to fulfil water needs, 26,00 water tankers have been dispatched.

According to the 2019 report, the Karnataka Government declared that 3,122 regions were severely affected by drinking water.

4. Jharkhand

The capital city of Jharkhand, Ranchi, is facing a severe water crisis. There is a scarcity of drinking water. Half of Jharkhand is Drought-Hit. Koderma, Khunti and Garhwa district's situations are the worst.

As per the report of 2018, Jharkhand recorded a deficit of 28% of rainwater. There is no water in the pumps and ponds. The government also failed to provide water. People don't have water for drinking.

5. Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh is staring at a major drinking water crisis and due to scarcity of clean water, more than a hundred people fell ill. The dams and rivers also do not have that much water.

The reservoirs in the state have no inflow or water levels. The government is trying hard to overcome the problem.

6. Rajasthan

Rajasthan is always part of water scarcity, to a decadal average study from November 2008 to November 2018, there has been a decline in groundwater by 62.70% in the state, with only a 37.20% ris

But after Covid-19, there has been an acute rise in the water crisis in rural areas. Villagers are unable to arrange water either for themselves or for animals. 

7. Uttar Pradesh 

The crisis is found in Uttar Pradesh, Bundelkhand, Mathura and Aligarh as well; hand pumps have been dried and ponds have disappeared.

But the State government, however, denied that there is any law and order problem due to water shortage in the region. As per Government 2011–2022, 90% of the rural population benefited from the water supply.

10. Delhi

According to the report of the Economic Survey 2017, 20% of the drinking water in Delhi was wasted due to mismanagement. According to expectations, 30% of drinking water is wasted. About 18 per cent of households in the capital city, Delhi, do not have piped water supply.

There is illegal construction near reservoirs, over-extraction of groundwater, pollution in water bodies and wastage of residential water supply, which are some of the main reasons why Delhi is facing a water crisis.

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