India’s water crisis is not a resource scarcity problem
Speaking to Frontline, Sushmita Sengupta, senior programme manager at the Centre for Science and Environment, said that rapid urbanisation over recent decades has outpaced existing water planning frameworks. “More than 60 per cent of India remains rural and depends heavily on groundwater. But now, urban areas are also turning into major water consumers. Then you have industries alongside peri-urban regions that are not connected to municipal supply systems. For these areas, groundwater remains the only reliable source of water,” she said. “My son wanted to become a wrestler. How does a liver collapse in a healthy child like him?” Sharik Khan’s mother whimpers, tears streaming down her face. Sharik was only 13 years old when he succumbed to acute liver failure. From January 27 to February 20 this year, nearly 22 others of Chhainsa village in Haryana’s Palwal district died, many from liver failure. The victims were aged between 9 and 67. A village with a population of about 6,000, Chhainsa had all the makings of a water tragedy. It has always faced severe drainage problems; even during the dry month of February, its surroundings remained flooded with stagnant monsoon water. Most local water pipelines in the village are submerged within open drains. Any minor crack can trigger disaster, precisely what unfolded. The Gurugram Canal, which draws water from the Yamuna river, also traverses the village. Its primary purpose is irrigation; however, a spot check by Frontline revealed that the canal is heavily polluted and resembles a sewage drain more than a functional waterway. One can smell the canal even before it comes into view. Jawed, a resident whose family has inhabited the village for generations, said that the most pressing crisis revolves around water, for drinking and irrigation. Speaking to Frontline, he said, “The whole village is surviving on God’s mercy. If someone falls ill, people here would consult quack doctors rather than approach government facilities. It is a very poor village. Most of us are farmers, and this year we could not carry out sowing because we had not drained the monsoon water.” The village has only one primary health centre (PHC); it was constructed in 2009 but became operational only in 2022. The PHC is intended to serve at least 10 surrounding villages, yet it remains largely inaccessible owing to a lack of proper roads. It lacks an outpatient department and does not offer maternity services. Only one nurse was present when this reporter paid a visit, and the centre bore signs of neglect. Shrubs and creepers had overrun the premises, and the building lacked even basic maintenance. Residents shared photographs and videos showing ambulances getting stranded in muddy water while attempting to reach the facility. The nearest major healthcare institution is Shaheed Hasan Khan Mewati Government Medical College, about 20 kilometres away. Following the deaths, a response team was deployed, and a health camp was established. Of the 107 household water samples collected by authorities, 23 failed quality checks, indicating bacterial contamination and inadequate chlorination. Coliform bacteria were detected in storage tanks during another round of testing, and chlorine was found to be absent in dozens of samples. Dr Devendra Jhakad, the medical officer-in-charge of the PHC, said that the unit grapples with severe financial constraints and that funds currently arrive only through Ayushman Bharat, the Central government’s health insurance scheme. “I have submitted many letters to the government, but they have consistently fallen on deaf ears. We want to provide services to the village, but we do not possess the resources,” he said. Dr Jhakad also said that for nearly four months each year, during the monsoon season, the facility remains closed because the road leading to the PHC gets submerged. “We conduct basic check-ups, but that is all we can do. We do not even have a full-time guard on duty. There should be two Level-4 nurses, but we do not have them. We do not have a Lady Health Visitor or a pharmacist. We practically do not have anything. On top of that, several unruly elements have vandalised the property.” This tragedy in Palwal is not an isolated one. Across the country, similar incidents occur with striking regularity. In January this year, there was a waterborne typhoid outbreak in Gandhinagar in Gujarat, largely affecting children, with nearly 150 minors admitted to hospital. In Raipur, Chhattisgarh, residents received foul-smelling and visibly polluted tap water for over a month in January, with around 100 people falling ill. In Ranchi, Jharkhand, civic officials have reportedly identified more than 300 locations with damaged or broken pipelines, which heightens the risk of sewage entering the water supply during distribution. There was also a major health crisis in December 2025 in Indore, regarded as the cleanest city in the country, which claimed more than 20 lives and resulted in about 200 people being hospitalised. Between December 2025 and January 2026 alone, at least 11 incidents of piped water contamination were reported across cities nationwide. In the majority of cases, contamination was traced to sewage mixing with drinking water—often because ageing, corroded, or poorly laid pipelines run dangerously close to sewer lines. Any leak or drop in pressure allows sewage to seep directly into household drinking water supplies. India is facing a water crisis of unparalleled scale. The country possesses only 4 per cent of the world’s groundwater resources but has to sustain nearly 17 per cent of the global population. How did a civilisation whose early societies developed some of humanity’s most sophisticated water management systems descend to such a state? According to experts, India’s water crisis stems less from infrastructural scarcity and more from the failure of governance. The absence of water-sensitive design has allowed cities to expand unchecked, almost erasing existing local water bodies such as lakes and ponds. This has led to signicant depletion of groundwater, which is supposed to act as a reserve water source. The Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation finances water supply, sewerage, and green infrastructure projects. According to the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs, the government has allocated Rs. 1,93,104 crore across nearly 3,500 projects over the past decade. Yet, water supply dominates spending priorities, accounting for 62 per cent of expenditure, compared with 34 per cent directed towards sewerage. Efforts to rejuvenate water bodies, which would enable groundwater recharge and augment long-term water availability, received a negligible 3 per cent of the total funding. On March 23, the Comptroller and Auditor General of India tabled its performance audit on the functioning of the Delhi Jal Board before the Delhi Legislative Assembly. Spanning seven chapters, the report outlined multiple shortcomings in the board’s operations in recent years. Chapter 3 of the audit examined weaknesses within the board’s supply network. Between 2017 and 2022, transmission losses rose from 16 per cent to 21 per cent. Per capita availability of potable water remained below 20 gallons per capita per day (GPCD) in four zones and below 40 GPCD in eight zones, against the required benchmark of 60 GPCD, thereby exposing deep inequities in water distribution. The non-revenue water component stood between 51 per cent and 53 per cent of the average daily water supplied, resulting in revenue losses amounting to Rs. 4,988 crore. The audit also revealed the absence of flow meters at water treatment plants, reservoirs, bore wells, and emergency points, indicating that the Delhi Jal Board could not accurately quantify how much water was being treated, transmitted, or supplied. Water quality testing also fell significantly short of norms, placing public health at risk. Additionally, the audit identified deficiencies during the conceptualisation and planning stages of several sewerage and water supply projects. Speaking to Frontline, Sushmita Sengupta, senior programme manager at the Centre for Science and Environment, said that rapid urbanisation over recent decades has outpaced existing water planning frameworks. “More than 60 per cent of India remains rural and depends heavily on groundwater. But now, urban areas are also turning into major water consumers. Then you have industries alongside peri-urban regions that are not connected to municipal supply systems. For these areas, groundwater remains the only reliable source of water,” she said. According to her, groundwater is undergoing immense stress and not receiving adequate time to replenish. Many water bodies, including lakes and ponds, have been encroached upon by local residents or contaminated by waste dumped by surrounding settlements. She said, “These lakes and ponds function as major recharge zones within cities. The approach should not merely focus on creating artificial groundwater recharge structures or simply mapping and restoring select areas, but also on protecting existing lakes and water bodies that can serve as natural recharge zones at the city level.” Sengupta pointed out that several cities have now made rainwater harvesting mandatory. Authorities now require every new building to install a rainwater harvesting system before applying for occupancy permission. “These measures exist, but outcomes are still not moving in a positive direction,” she said. A major hurdle for the country remains its lethargic regulatory system. Experts claimed that many officials in urban water agencies do not even have a clear understanding of how pipeline networks are laid out across the cities, amid rapid urbanisation, and inadequate audits. According to Sengupta, the principal reason behind this is poor inter-departmental communication and a defunct central database. She said, “Data is not accessible to everyone. Another issue that emerged during our work in Indore is that consultants are deeply involved in these projects. As a result, most maps and technical information remain with them and are not shared with government departments. Different departments that should know where pipelines run do not have that clarity. How will they work on maintenance then?”’ Anshuman Karol, who heads governance and climate action at Participatory Research in Asia, an NGO, said that even if detailed maps are not available, authorities could still identify areas requiring maintenance through older audit records. “Today, many agencies possess newer technologies that can trace pipeline networks, but even in their absence, a simple review of archival data would indicate which areas require maintenance. Everything has a lifespan, and historical records would reveal where pipelines need replacement.” According to Karol, even in metropolitan centres such as Delhi, Mumbai, and Chennai, a large proportion of the population is dependent on groundwater despite the presence of sophisticated pipeline networks, as local water sources are unable to meet the demands of a rapidly expanding populace. “These cities function as economic magnets, drawing people in search of livelihoods. Urban space is limited, and as population pressure intensifies, stress on resources inevitably mounts. Water is among the most critical of these resources. Urban lakes and ponds act as aquifers, serving as natural recharge systems that buffer a city’s water demand. Why is Chennai running out of water? Because excessive concretisation has eliminated seepage. Even when good rainfall occurs, water simply flows into drains and escapes, instead of percolating into the ground. This is precisely the problem,” he said. Speaking to Frontline, Suresh Rohilla, an expert on water-sensitive urban design and professor at the University of Bradford, UK, said that ancient Indian civilisations accorded special patronage to maintaining lakes and ponds. Over time, however, water management became increasingly institutionalised, and water itself came to be viewed primarily as infrastructure rather than as an ecological system. According to him, in earlier times, farmers would collectively manage water resources, drawing upon traditional knowledge to cultivate crops in accordance with water availability. A community-based system of water governance prevailed. Civilisations expanded, and water management became increasingly institutionalised, and with the influence of Western administrative models, water gradually came to be regarded as infrastructure. “Water was subsequently treated as an organised public service requiring a dedicated department. As a result, in most large Indian cities, water supply is not administered by municipal corporations but by specialised water supply and sewerage boards, such as the Delhi Jal Board,” he said. Highlighting the persistent neglect of groundwater conservation and rejuvenation, despite groundwater being one of the most reliable water sources, he said: “Delhi draws nearly 900 million litres of water daily from outside the city. Around 90 per cent of drinking water derives either from Himalayan dams, the Yamuna canal, or the Ganga system. But, there are no adequate mechanisms to store rainwater or strengthen groundwater reserves through recharge.” Whenever a crisis emerges, say from cleaning a drinking water treatment plant or contamination in water owing to the Yamuna, tankers are deployed across the city to supply groundwater. Although groundwater continues to be a dependable source, governments do not adequately prioritise its recharge. “Water-sensitive design and planning represent a balanced approach, where surface water and groundwater are managed together, both contributing to the in situ augmentation of water capacity. This also embodies a circular approach, as it questions why consumed water should simply exit the city instead of being recycled and reintegrated, especially as urban demand continues to rise,” he said. “Why do cities discharge wastewater? Delhi has nearly 17,000 parks. Why isn’t treated wastewater utilised to irrigate these spaces? Such a measure would easily conserve at least 30 per cent of water.” Rohilla also pointed out that over the past 10-15 years, the growing discourse around water-sensitive design has generated considerable attention, prompting planners to at least acknowledge such solutions, though largely through a piecemeal approach by categorising them as good practices. Water-sensitive design and planning requires engagement with a broader range of experts rather than relying solely on civil or mechanical engineers. It demands interdisciplinary collaboration to address water challenges more holistically. “But at present, water supply and sewerage boards do not even employ groundwater specialists, landscape planners, ecologists, hydrologists, geographers, or sociologists. And even if authorities want to undertake campaigns on water conservation or the reuse of treated wastewater, officials are not equipped to engage with communities. They are trained to handle pipes, motors, and pumps, so naturally, they focus on those aspects alone. We have not yet transitioned from a linear approach to a circular or sustainable one.” According to Rohilla, the solution lies in making water everybody’s business. “Authorities cannot simply assert that they alone will be responsible for supplying safe water while citizens remain disengaged. Institutions must engage with people and involve communities and users in the process. Users should not merely remain subscribers; they must evolve into partners in sustainable water management. The subscriber, too, constitutes a stakeholder in ensuring long-term water sustainability.”