Delhi fares worst in water management index

Delhi figures at the bottom of the table in Niti Aayog’s ranking of states and Union Territories (UTs) in terms of their performance on water management practices.
“Delhi, assessed on the Index for the first time this year, scores lowest with 20 points. This is alarming considering Delhi’s position as the country’s capital territory, and its population of 2 crore people whose water, arguably, is being poorly managed,” said the Aayog releasing its findings on Friday.
The national capital has, in fact, fared badly on groundwater restoration, water supply to urban poor residing in slums and other key indicators which caused its slide in scores. However, its poor ranking may mainly be attributed to the city government’s failure to report data on certain other indicators and sub-indicators such as water management in rural habitation and in irrigation.
The Aayog, at the same time, praised the city on urban water pricing and kept in the category of “things going well”, saying 65% of urban households are charged for their water supply in the city.

States are displaying progress in water management, but the overall performance remains well below what is required to adequately tackle India’s water challenge, said Niti Aayog on Friday as it released a ranking of states and Union Territories (UTs) on their water management practices.
Overall, Gujarat retained its top position and Haryana showed the maximum improvement in the Niti Aayog rankings. Haryana, figured at number 16th last year but jumped nine positions this year to be placed at number seven in the Aayog’s second round of Composite Water Management Index (CWMI 2.0) for the reference year 2017-18.
Elaborating on the implications, the Aayog said, “Urban hubs are likely to witness severe water shortages in the future, which could risk urban growth in India and reduce quality of life for urban citizens. India’s urban population is expected to reach 600 million by 2030 and fulfilling its water needs will be a great challenge.”
Estimates suggest that the demand-supply gap for the domestic sector will stand at 50 billion cubic meter (BCM) in 2030, with the demand expected to double by that time. “The present situation is also not ideal. Five of the world’s 20 largest cities under water stress are in India, with Delhi being second on the list,” said the think-tank while referring to a global report.
The CWMI 2.0, released by Union water resources minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat, showed that 80% of the states assessed on the index over the last three years have improved their water management scores.
“But worryingly, 16 out of the 27 states and UTs still score less than 50 points on the Index (out of 100), and fall in the low-performing category. These states collectively account for 48% of the population, 40% of agricultural produce, and 35% of economic output of India,” said the think-tank.
Apart from Delhi, some of the other low-performing states/UTs include Jharkhand, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Odisha, Chhattisgarh, Kerala, Rajasthan and Uttarakhand. Among big states West Bengal did not participate in the ranking process.
Niti Aayog also observed that the large economic contributors such as Uttar Pradesh and Delhi have scored poorly in the overall index which is arrived at after analysing scores (weights) of the states/UTs on nine indicator themes.
Restoration of water bodies, groundwater source augmentation, supply side management of irrigation, watershed development, participatory irrigation practices, sustainable on-farm water use practices, rural drinking water, urban water supply & sanitation and policy & governance are the nine themes which are allocated different weights (points) to arrive at the index.
The CWMI is a tool to assess and improve the performance of states and UTs in efficient management of water resources. The Aayog believes that the index will provide useful information for states/UTs and also for the concerned central ministries enabling them to formulate and implement suitable strategies for better management of water resources.
Among other key points, the CWMI 2.0 also noted how large agricultural producers are struggling to manage their water resources effectively and therefore putting food security at risk. “None of the top 10 agricultural producers in India, except Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh, score more than 60 points on the CWMI,” said the Aayog while noting that almost half of the index scores is directly linked to water management in agriculture.
Niti Aayog member, Ramesh Chand, who was present at the CWMI 2.0 release function, pitched for including more variables from agriculture sector during the next round of ranking, He said, “What happens in agriculture will have more of an impact. We have to save water in agriculture to meet the country’s future need.”