India heading towards severe water deficit

A latest report by Asian Development Bank (ADB) projected that in 2030, India and many other major Asian nations are going to face the water shortage problems, which may diectly or indirectly going to affect their economy and food security scenario. Among the region’s largest countries, the ADB estimated India would have a water deficit of 50 per cent by 2030 while China would have a shortage of 25 per cent. China, India, Pakistan, Vietnam, Bangladesh, Nepal, Uzbekistan and Cambodia are currently feeling the heaviest impacts of the water shortage in terms of food and energy production as well as ecological damage, as per the report. ADB faulted weak enforcement of laws for the degradation of Asian water quality, with between 80 and 89 per cent of all untreated wastewater leaching into fresh water in east and south Asia, respectively. It also highlighted that while irrigated agriculture uses up 80 per cent of the region's fresh water, there have been only very minimal irrigation efficiencies since 1990. On current trends, this would lead to a 40 per cent gap between water demand and supply in Asia by 2030.