As summer sweeps, the sweltering heat reminds us of the now looming water crisis across the Indian urban landscape that swings between two extremes – capricious floods that paralyze cities overnight during monsoons and chronic water scarcity that leaves millions struggling for a drop during summer. This paradox is most visible in metros like Mumbai, Bengaluru, Chennai, Delhi and even in Kolkata sometimes where water has turned into both a menace and a mirage. In his book “10 Rules of Successful Nations”, Ruchir Sharma, the Chief Global Strategist of Morgan Stanley, emphasizes the need for the spread of the rising wealth to the remote parts of the nation. He says, “Any lopsided ratio of the population between its largest city and the second largest city is abnormal”. This finding offers a vital clue to the capricious water crisis of Indian urban areas.

In Maharashtra, the population of Mumbai, India’s financial capital, is four times that of Pune. Down south in Karnataka, Bengaluru, hailed as the Silicon Valley of India, with a population of 12 million, has exceeded Mysore, the second most populous city, by 10 times. Hyderabad is 10 times more populated than the next in line, Warangal in Telangana, Chennai five times the size of Coimbatore, and Delhi, at over 20 million, is phenomenal in North India. Kolkata, the mega city of Bengal, has 10 times more population than Asansol, the second most populous city.

Advertisement

The scenario is no different in other States. The outcome of such a lop-sided expansion, concentration of wealth and investment, is the exploding water demand, triggering agencies to scramble for water. A decade ago, Delhi had a water demand of about 4760 MLD against a supply of 3546 MLD with a gap of more than 1000 MLD; as of date, Kolkata has an estimated water demand of 1875 MLD and despite the Hooghly the prospects could be bleak in future due to unfettered expansion. Water demand of the Chennai urban area stands at 1850 MLD against a supply of 1510 MLD, with a gap of about 300 MLD. The projected demand and supply for the Bengaluru urban area for 2026 are 3437 MLD and 2235 MLD, respectively, still an alarming gap of 1262 MLD. Supply trails demand in every urban metro of India, and this game of supply catching up with the demand is glaring even as people lining up before tankers is a familiar sight during summer.

However, during monsoons, the scenario is opposite – the same people drown in the waters while their homes get inundated. Nevertheless, Indian metros, whether it is Bengaluru, Mumbai, Delhi, or Chennai, continue to grow in all directions and there seems no end in sight. No one is aware of how far this lop-sided march goes on, how many nearby towns will be subsumed and where all this will end. No one is bothered about the shooting water demand. Already, Mumbai has marched into Thane district. While there are no fetters for the march of cities, the same does not hold for water. Water is not infinite, whether it is in rivers or underground. Water is not only limited by the ‘weather Gods’ (read hydrology) but also by tribunal awards.

Bringing water from distant rivers looks enticing on paper, but it is fraught with risks. The biggest risk, for example, is what if Chennai does not stop at Perumbudur, barely 30 km away, or Bengaluru subsumes Tumkur, a tierII city 70 km away? Further, ignoring such a blistering expansion, and against exploding population, dwindling sources, and crumbling drainage of urban areas, remedies like rainwater harvesting, groundwater recharge, rooftop rainwater harvesting, wastewater recycling, etc., are now nothing more than part-time solutions. These remedies are like aspirin. They reduce only the ‘pain’, but don’t cure the malaise of recurring urban water scarcity or deluge. The cure lies elsewhere.

So, the right approach towards finding a cure to the recurring water woes of our urban areas is to first acknowledge the ground reality that water crisis – be it scarcity or deluge – is primarily the outcome of its limitless investment, the vulgar concentration of wealth followed by its unlimited 360o expansion – the “unknown unknown” of current urban water management. Those smaller cities or tier-II cities surrounding Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Kolkata and Chennai, starved of investment due to all the limelight snatched by megacities, need urgent attention in terms of redistribution of wealth. The investment, development, and wealth should go to these tier-II cities commensurate with their resilience to cope with water demand and deluge, and not otherwise. To emphasize, there is a need to reverse the migration towards megacities. That is the only plausible way visible to overcome the conundrum of India’s immortal urban hydro-schizophrenia of scarcity and floods.

The summer has started now. Mumbai, Chennai, Bengaluru, Delhi, and Hyderabad now face the prospect of a grave crisis of less water. It is a paradox. The march of the lopsided expansion is giving more ominous signals for both less water and more water. This is the root cause of urban water woes. This summer crisis is a wake-up call. Unless the stakeholders shift their focus towards fixing the real problem of unchecked concentration of investment, wealth, and an unfettered expansion of urban areas, not only the next El Nino but also the coming La Nina could be disastrous.

(The writer Director, Central Water Commission, Bengaluru. Views expressed are personal.)