Opinion Water bankruptcy calls for water accounting

Over the past two decades, a growing body of scholarly research has documented the risks to water security posed by pollution and unsustainable patterns of use. According to a UN report, released earlier this week, climate change has exacerbated the crisis. Rising temperatures disrupt rainfall patterns, and the water cycle and retreating glaciers make river flows erratic, creating “whiplashes” between floods and extremely dry weather. Droughts, shortages, and pollution episodes that once looked like temporary shocks are becoming chronic in many places, signalling a crisis described by the report as “water bankruptcy”. The study, also titled Global Water Bankruptcy, points out that not all basins and countries are equally affected. But it rightly underlines that “basins are interconnected through trade, migration, weather, and other key elements of nature. Water bankruptcy in one area will put more pressure on others and can increase local and international tensions.”

Climate-induced precipitation vagaries are, in fact, one of the major features of the current winter in the Himalaya. Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh and Jammu and Kashmir are facing a snow drought. Meteorologists have ascribed the dry season to the weakening of the western disturbances. The latter part of the season may well be less dry. But the benefits of snowfall in late January or early February are likely to be far fewer. Late snow melts quickly, preventing soils from deriving the maximum benefit of its moisture-replenishing quality. Early snow, in contrast, melts slowly, providing a steady supply of water to rivers. As an IIT-Mandi study pointed out last year, the erratic precipitation — it has intensified in the past five years — has spinoffs on agriculture, hydropower, and the timing of river flows.

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Water management initiatives in most parts of the world, including India, have traditionally focused on providing a steady supply to households, farmers and industry. Today, there are more conversations on recharging aquifers, harvesting rainwater and water-efficient crops compared to two decades ago. Even then, initiatives on prudent use play second fiddle to supply-side measures. The UN report makes a case for transparent water accounting, protection of aquifers, and enforceable limits on extraction, along with ensuring equity in water distribution.