Probe International

September 3, 2009

India and China may differ in their political structures—the former the world’s most populous democracy, the latter the most populace one-party state—but they share a ruinous use of ground water in which each is draining their aquifers faster than they can be replenished.

Probe International’s 2008 blockbuster report, Beijing’s Water Crisis: 1949 — 2008 Olympics, reported that the Beijing municipality is taking 500 million cubic metres over the annual allowable limit for “safe” extraction from the region’s aquifers.

Now, according to a team of hydrologists from NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, groundwater levels in northern India have been shrinking by as much as one foot per year over the past decade. The researchers believe much of this loss can be contributed to human activity.

Using data from satellites in the agency’s Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE), the researchers discovered that between 2002 and 2008, more than 26 cubic miles of groundwater have disappeared from aquifers in areas of Haryana, Punjab, Rajasthan and the nation’s capitol territory of Delhi. To put this in perspective—this amount of water would be enough to fill Lake Mead, the largest man-made reservoir in the United States, three times.

The researchers were also provided data from India’s Ministry of Water Resources, which suggested that groundwater use across the country was exceeding natural replenishment.

“We don’t know the absolute volume of water in the northern Indian aquifers, but GRACE provides strong evidence that current rates of water extraction are not sustainable,” Matt Rodell, head of the project, told Environmental Protection. “The region has become dependent on irrigation to maximize agricultural productivity. If measures are not taken to ensure sustainable groundwater usage, the consequences for the 114 million residents of the region may include a collapse of agricultural output and severe shortages of potable water.”

Worse, this loss in groundwater came as rainfall in the area was greater than usual, showing just how dire the situation in India is getting.

Beijing, which is entering its 10th year of drought, may provide a warning to India of how much worse the situation can become. To deal with its water deficit and supply its 17 million residents—who are already surviving with 1/34 the world average for per capita water consumption—the government is building a controversial multi-billion dollar infrastructure project to transport water from rivers in northern and western regions of the country into the capital city.

These controversial water diversion projects are expected to displace millions of residents and dramatically alter the ecology of the country’s rivers. Probe International and Chinese environmentalists have argued that this is an unreliable and unsustainable solution and recommended pricing and regulatory changes to encourage the efficient use of water.

India and China share a problem but they also share a solution: concerned and resourceful citizens—for examples, click  here and here—that advocate smart policies to manage water resources in order to reduce leakage, minimize wastage, increase efficiency, and ensure groundwater recharge. But perhaps more importantly, they are calling for accessible data which will allow them to  monitor the groundwater budget and hold decision-makers accountable. Governments in both countries would do well to start listening.