This refers to the editorial "Water security" (July 2). India extracts more groundwater than any other country. As a global average, 56 per cent of fresh-water withdrawals are used for agriculture. However, in India this figure is as high as 90 per cent due to indifferent precipitation patterns. This year's truant monsoons makes us more vulnerable. India is one of the top producers of rice, wheat, potatoes and sugar cane worldwide - all water-hungry crops. The scare of water shortage in metros is real. Mumbai, of all the places, is now faced with the prospect of an impending water rationing. Chennai has a perennial shortage. But these are coastal towns and slightly better placed than Delhi, which is riverine. River basins in the country are gradually drying up. Consequently, the exploitation of groundwater has led to the lowering of the average water table in the country from 10 metres to 80 metres in the last 30 years. In six decades after Independence, Delhi still empties over 60 per cent of its untreated sewage into the Yamuna. In India, where rivers are worshipped, the literate and more informed elite have done little to translate this reverence into championing and leading with dedication, simple plans and committed actions to restore purity to the rivers and water bodies.
R Narayanan Ghaziabad
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