INTRODUCTION
The world water day is celebrated with the intention to remind everyone that water is indeed a valuable resource and contemporary times demand us to include water conservation and replenishment strategies in our everyday practices. 22nd March, 2022 is the 21st world water day, where the UN focussed on the theme of “Groundwater: Making Invisible Visible”. The issue of groundwater is indeed a grave concern, which needs immediate addressal. India is the largest user of groundwater and there will be an estimated 82% decline in the per capita availability of water from 1950-2025 according to the Central Ground Water Board (CGWB). Although invisible, groundwater is a crucial resource, upon which Indian agriculture is heavily reliant. Study conducted by Indian Brand Equity Foundation (IBEF) highlights that 90% of the groundwater is used by agriculture.
Amidst this backdrop, celebrating world water day and raising awareness among people to transform their water usage practices needs immediate addressal. The issue of groundwater depletion is so grave that its solution lies in identifying the problem in terms of the interlinkage groundwater has with the domain of energy and agriculture. While climate smart technologies like solar water pumps offer an eco-friendly way to carry out irrigation, it cannot facilitate judicious groundwater usage, if it is uptake by farmers is not coupled by micro-irrigation techniques like drip and sprinkler irrigation. In this world water day, SwitchON conducted a stakeholder meet, where domain experts came together and analysed the issue of groundwater depletion in terms of the inter-linkage between energy-water-agriculture
THE CAUSES AND IMPACT OF THE WATER CRISIS
The backbone of our economy, Agriculture lately has contributed a lot to the depletion of groundwater level across the country. Statistics and Studies lately have revealed that agriculture is the primary source of livelihood for approximately 58% of the population. It is also known to consume about 90% of the groundwater in India. With this regard the water consumption for the energy sector is projected to grow from 1.4% to 9% from 2025 to 2050. Even in a water rich nation such as Ireland, current statistics and projections highlight the urgent need to eliminate the unsustainable water usage practices.
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