
India’s daunting challenge: There’s water everywhere, and nowhere - baud147258
https://www.nationalgeographic.com/magazine/2020/08/indias-daunting-challenge-there-is-water-everywhere-and-nowhere-feature/
======
vishnugupta
A highly recommended talk on the relevant topic by P Sainath
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E-l2LvA2dSI](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E-l2LvA2dSI)
.

I can't think of anyone who has researched and understands rural India better
than Sainath. He spends ~200+ days per year touring rural India; he has done
this over last 20+ years. His articles are quite revealing.

If you want to understand rural India then I highly recommend these two
sources:

1\. [https://ruralindiaonline.org](https://ruralindiaonline.org)

2\. Book, "Everybody Loves a Good Drought":
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Everybody_Loves_a_Good_Drought](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Everybody_Loves_a_Good_Drought)

------
blueblisters
By some reports, India is the largest exporter of water in the world [1].
Almost 100 billion cubic meters, 4 times more than the total household
consumption is exported in the form of water intensive crops (mostly rice and
cotton). This pales in comparison to the total agricultural consumption,
probably 10-15x more. There are solutions to this, of course, but they're
politically difficult to implement.

Edit: The total water consumption is closer to 700 billion cubic meters. My
guess for agricultural consumption were off by a factor of 2x.

[1]
[https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2019-07-06/india-...](https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2019-07-06/india-
is-the-world-s-biggest-exporter-of-water-despite-shortages)

~~~
distant_hat
This. Many of the most water short areas grow water intensive crops and have
droughts. Another thing is bureaucrats love droughts, you get extra money from
the center for relief and it is a huge opportunity for corruption. There was
even a book written on it called Everybody Loves a Good Drought, by P.
Sainath, about his research findings of poverty in the rural districts of
India.

------
wobbly_bush
> “Where is all of this excess water?” Raghu Chundawat, a leading Indian
> conservationist, asks me sourly in nearby Panna National Park, a sanctuary
> for endangered tigers. “The government won’t share its flow data. I don’t
> think even they know what the impacts will be.”

In a quick Google search I was able to find this -
[http://www.mppcb.nic.in/pdf/594-English.pdf](http://www.mppcb.nic.in/pdf/594-English.pdf).
I'm not an expert on this topic, but seems like there is some amount of flow
data.

This is just one example of what's wrong with the article. It feels more like
a travel blog than a well researched article.

~~~
hugh-avherald
That link (from 8 years ago) doesn't contradict the claim that the government
won't share its flow data and doesn't know the what the impacts will be.

~~~
wobbly_bush
Can you elaborate on how the report doesn't answer those questions? Raghu
Chundawat is asking the question about the Ken-Betwa project and this report
is exactly about that project. The fact that the report was out 8 years ago
and Raghu Chundawat still says there is no data is surprising.

------
rramadass
After having read the article i can say that the headline is a misnomer. It is
more of a travelogue than about the water crisis. But an interesting read
nevertheless.

~~~
vishnugupta
It's indeed a travelogue, a fascinating one at that, into its 7th year [1].
The water story is a sub-plot.

[1] [https://www.nationalgeographic.org/projects/out-of-eden-
walk...](https://www.nationalgeographic.org/projects/out-of-eden-walk/)

------
dirtyid
> In total, some 600 million people—roughly half India’s population—live
> without enough clean water.

I think India is projected to add 350M more ppl by 2050. The challenge is
certainly daunting.

~~~
eveningcoffee
Lets not forget that they had about 300M people in 1950. It would be 5 times
population growth in a century. This is historically unheard of and it is no
wonder that it is causing such problems.

~~~
oblio
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demography_of_England](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demography_of_England)

England.

Population in 1800: 7.7 million.

Population in 1900: 30 million.

So not quite 5x, but almost 4x, not that far off.

I'm pretty sure there are many other examples of nations undergoing a huge
population boom as they industrialize.

~~~
krakatau1
Maybe it was 5x. In that period millions of English went to colonies.

~~~
oblio
That's a valid point. What many people don't know about the French-Indian War,
for example, is that the British colonists numbered in the high hundreds of
thousands (if not a million) and the French colonists were about 50.000.
That's why Quebec was doomed regardless of any short term military results.

~~~
krakatau1
Yes, English had crazy fertility rate. At the begining of the Hundred Years’
War France had population of 17 million and Britain(excluding Ireland) had 4
million. By the time of Napoleonic wars Britain(with Ireland) had 17 million
people compared with 30 million in France. English also had much higher
emigration rate to colonies.

When the First World War started UK had a larger population than France.

------
newyankee
There are many infrastructure projects that can help a little bit. However
historically land acquisition has been very difficult (unlike say China) which
meant projects kept on extending. A lot of it is also because of corruption
that the system enabled. However it is improving much faster now.

In terms of water security a low hanging fruit is agricultural policy, however
due to the politically tricky thing it is , it is not an easy solution.

There are 10s of different problems when it comes to issues such as resolving
water and it is not due to lack of will. A classic example in my state is that
rich farmers (< 5%) hoard all the resources (land, water, free energy and
subsidies) cultivating cash rich crops and poor farmers have to survive on
subsistence. Average land holdings are very small and in my state agri output
is directly proportional to amount of water you have access to, either by
being close to a water body or some groundwater.

------
known
I think solar power based lift irrigation projects will solve water woes in
India

------
known
Elections != Democracy; India is Feudalism masquerading as Democracy

------
product50
How do I read this article? Looks like it is behind a paywall.

~~~
neonate
[https://archive.is/mb23Q](https://archive.is/mb23Q)

------
sandoooo
Given a complex economic situation pitting the green revolution and the need
to feed a billion people versus the sustainability of local ecology and scarce
groundwater resources, the article offers this pithy insight:

>Given enough time, water defeats almost anything. Stone. Iron. Bone. Rivers
saw through the stratigraphy of time itself. Yet patriarchy endures.

I had to read though half the article to get to this. You're all welcome.

------
Grakel
Would love to read about this in a more digestible format. This kind of
journalism is going the way of the dodo.

~~~
baud147258
The author (Paul Salopek) is walking from East Africa to South America,
writing shorter articles along the way. The project is called out of eden walk
and there is a rss feed you can subscribe to:
[https://www.nationalgeographic.org/projects/out-of-eden-
walk...](https://www.nationalgeographic.org/projects/out-of-eden-
walk/feeds/articles/)

------
known
Due to lack of will and wisdom; Since 80% people are poor
[https://archive.vn/bS2fL](https://archive.vn/bS2fL) in India
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bread_and_circuses](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bread_and_circuses)
is very effective in India;

------
vppstuart
Getting these problems fixed will be money well spent. Trying to go to the
moon is not an example of that.

~~~
a-ve
Getting your Govt to fix all the US' crumbling infrastructure will be money
well spent. Spending a crap load of money on your military is not an example
of that.

~~~
mc32
There is waste surely --but if we don't "police" then people complain the US
isn't keeping the peace and they let dictators do as they wish. People want it
both ways, they want the US to stabilize the world but they also want the US
to keep out of other countries' business.

~~~
zapdrive
Trust me, nobody wants you to police the whole world. UN was formed for that
very reason. US has over the years weakened UN to expand its own reach. So
please get the hell out of everywhere and let UN handle.

~~~
reducesuffering
UN is toothless without the US. Alas, US populace is tired of being chastised
for spending massively and making mistakes on Pax Americana[0]. So, the US
will increasingly isolate and won’t have the will to stand up to Russia and
China aggression, which they are aware of and increasingly taking advantage of
in the last decade. UK, France, and India aren’t formidable; not that they’d
be willing. As you wish, we’ll find out how effective the UN’s deterrence is
in the next decade.

[0]
[https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pax_Americana](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pax_Americana)

~~~
GeneralMayhem
The UN is not much of a mechanism to rein in China or Russia anyway
considering the structure of the Security Council.

