India faces ground water scarcity due to extraction of groundwater : US Study

(Credits : Hindustan Times)

New Delhi – Research conducted by scientists from the University of Michigan, US indicate that, if farmers in India continue to extract groundwater at the current rate, then by the year 2080, the rate of depletion of groundwater reserves in the country will increase threefold, resulting in a grave threat to the nation’s food and water security.

1. A research published in the journal ‘Science Advances’, says that due to global warming, farmers in India have greatly increased the use of groundwater for irrigation. It also warned that the resulting depletion of water resources will threaten the livelihoods of one-third of the country’s 1.4 billion population and will have dire consequences globally.

2. Meha Jain, an assistant professor at the University of Michigan, stressed that India is the country that consumes the most groundwater. India is responsible for most of the global and regional supply of food grains. Therefore, these findings regarding groundwater depletion hold immense significance for India.

Editorial Viewpoint

It would not be wrong if someone thinks that there is a need to ban soft drinks and drinking water bottles because they lead to more extraction of groundwater !