80 Percent of Indian Population Suffers from Water Scarcity: Study

BENGALURU: According to a recent study by Mesfin M. Mekonnen and Arjen Y. Hoekstra, water scarcity is on the rise and it is way worse than previously anticipated. The authors said that “fresh water scarcity is increasingly perceived as a global systemic risk” and that previous global water scarcity assessments, measuring water scarcity annually, have underestimated experienced water scarcity by failing to capture seasonal fluctuations in water consumption and availability.

The report reveals that nearly 4 billion people of the entire 7.5 billion have water scarcity for at least a month in a year. When taken into consideration the people living under conditions of moderate to extreme scarcity, the overall count rises to 4.3 billion. It is further estimated that the number of people hit by the water scarcity between 4 to 6 months a year ranges from 1.8 – 2.9 billion.

This is an issue which should be taken seriously by India as majority of its people are hit by the crisis.Of the 4 billion considered for the study, almost 1 billion are Indians while another 0.9 billion comprises of the Chinese. This means almost 80 percent of the population suffers from water scarcity for almost a whole month. The remaining 2 billion is largely occupied by Bangladesh with 130 million people, followed by the U.S. with another 130 million, Pakistan with 120 million, Nigeria with 110 million and Mexico with 90 million.

Livemint observes that the issue doesn’t end there. Almost 180 million Indians struggle without water around the year. It is the highest count when compared to other hotspots that include Pakistan which comes second on that list with 73 million people suffering from water scarcity, followed by the Egypt (27 million), Mexico (20 million), Saudi Arabia (20 million) and Yemen (18 million).

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