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Based on per capita renewable water availability,
India--the second most populous country in the
world--has water enough to meet its people's needs.
But despite an estimated 2,464 cubic meters per
person per year, many of its nearly 900 million
people suffer severe water shortages, in part
as a result of uneven availability of water. Most
rainfall comes during the monsoon season, from
June to September, and levels of precipitation
vary from 100 millimeters a year in the western
parts of Rajasthan to over 9,000 millimeters in
the northeastern state of Meghalaya.19 Floods
and droughts are both common throughout the country.
India's vulnerability to regional water scarcity
is well illustrated by the case of Rajasthan,
a state in northwest India. Situated in one of
the most inhospitable arid zones in the world,
Rajasthan's northwest corner extends into the
vast Thar Desert. With a wide range of temperatures
and an unpredictable monsoon climate, drought
and desertification are common, and water is a
scarce commodity. Home to eight percent of India's
population, Rajasthan can claim only one percent
of the country's water resources, which come in
the form of groundwater, limited rainfall, and
a restricted share of waters that straddle state
boundaries.20
Population growth in Rajasthan, as in the rest
of India, has been rapid. In 1990, the state's
population reached almost 44 million. And with
only some 30 percent of couples using contraception,
the state's total fertility rate, or average number
of children per woman, remains at about 4.5. By
the year 2000, Rajasthan's population is projected
to increase to almost 55 million. In 1990 per
capita water use in the state amounted to 562
cubic meters, a level nearly commensurate with
absolute scarcity.20 With the projected increases
in human numbers for the coming decade, acute
shortages are imminent.
Even those who live in areas of high rainfall
in India often face drought because landscapes
have been denuded. Soil is compacted and most
rainfall runs off before it can sink into the
ground, increasing flooding. The region of Cheerapunji
in Meghalaya, for example, receives among the
highest levels of mean rainfall recorded in the
world. Yet because of intense seasonal rainfall
and the fact that the area's forests have been
cleared in the past few decades to meet growing
demands for agricultural land and housing, much
of the runoff cannot be captured. The region now
suffers from excessive flooding for three or four
months and frequent droughts the rest of the year.21
With a rapidly growing population of 1.8 million,
Cheerapunji's water shortages and desertification
will likely worsen.
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19 M.S. Reddy, 1992. Country Paper prepared by
India for International Conference on Water and
Environment, Dublin, January 1992.
20 Institute of Development Studies. 1990. "Priorities
of Research in Water Management for Water-Scarce
Regions." Jaipur: Jaipur Printers P. Ltd.
21 Radharkrishna Rao. 1989. "Water Scarcity
Haunts World's Wettest Place." Ambio, 18(5).
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