Reforming India’s Water Governance To Meet Emerging Challenges

“Anyone who can solve the problems of water will be worthy of two Nobel Prizes- one for peace and one for science”. This quote by John F. Kennedy rightly captures the issue of poor water resource management coupled with governance challenges. Undoubtedly, clean water is a basic human right. Yet, 1.8 billion people are likely to face absolute water scarcity by 2025 [Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO)], hence arises the question of water governance. 

India has around 18% of the world’s population but only 4% of the world’s freshwater resources. Despite significant investment and improvement in the water sector, it is becoming very difficult to manage the ever-increasing demand for water in India. If the status quo is not changed, India’s water problems will be further aggravated.