5 ms·

Groundwater depletion in India may triple due to climate warming, study finds

72 points by myshpa 3y ago

srameshc 3y ago
There was already rampant misuse of ground water and no politician seems to be bothered https://www.worldbank.org/en/news/feature/2012/03/06/india-groundwater-critical-diminishing https://www.worldbank.org/en/news/feature/2012/03/06/india-g...
0xDEF 3y ago
There is also something about the Indian government subsidizing extremely ineffective outdated farming practices that waste a lot of water.
- tuatoru 3y ago
  Yes, electricity for water pumping is subsidised, and the water itself is not taxed. Imposing even tiny charges on water consumption by farmers would incentivize them to use water more efficiently. India could easily learn water efficient practices from Israeli farmers.
deleted 3y ago
[deleted]
deepGem 3y ago
I live in Bangalore, one of the cities which is primed for water depletion. In fact, there are areas where there is no drinking water supply at all and water is ferried by trucks (locally called water tankers). Now these trucks ferry water from God knows where but most likely a fresh water source or a borewell. Most of the neighbourhoods in my city are fed by these borewells some going as deep as 1000ft. Some neighbourhoods don't find water even at those depths and they have to depend on these water trucks. Now I'm not talking about a few hundred or thousand people I am talking about hundreds of thousands of people who live like this. The prime IT areas are all water depleted already. There is this notion amongst us Indians that things will improve somehow and we will get by. What they don't realise is that the politicians won't give a damn, when water depletion hits critical levels. In fact these water trucks are run mostly by politicians and their local goons. The ground reality in a city like Bangalore at the very fundamental liveable parameters is horrible and getting worse day by day. This year rains have been below average so we are staring at a water shortage next year even in areas that get fresh water from the regular water supply.
- anshumankmr 3y ago
  I live in Indiranagar and this is a sad reality of life here. These issues remind of this scene in Margin Call where two character talk about the impending 2008 crisis https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UOYi4NzxlhE&ab_channel=Movieclips https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UOYi4NzxlhE&ab_channel=Movie.... There are many major issues in India's growth story, and I feel the music is gonna stop really soon.
  - toomuchtodo 3y ago
    All you can do is make sure you have a seat when the music stops. Nobody is coming to save us.
- adrianN 3y ago
  It is my understand that once an aquifer is depleted, there is no going back. The relevant strata collapse and become unable to carry water. So there is probably no way the situation can improve.
  - anonuser123456 3y ago
    For some aquifers this is true, but not all.
- mortureb 3y ago
  Honestly India already has a solution for this that is not being implemented fast enough. The monsoons every year provide more than enough water to supply India for years every season, most of it just ends up in the oceans. India has to massively invest in catchment. There is some of this happening but it needs to be on a much larger scale.
  - no_wizard 3y ago
    Though monsoon patterns may change with climate change too. There are some forecasts that have India much much drier by 2040 where the water is needed most[0] [0]: https://www.worldbank.org/en/news/feature/2013/06/19/india-climate-change-impacts https://www.worldbank.org/en/news/feature/2013/06/19/india-c...
jeffbee 3y ago
Much of the region is watered by glacier melt that will abruptly cease in the near future. This is a discontinuity not mentioned in the article.
spaceman_2020 3y ago
India’s current development strategy is unsustainable. There is large scale migration to a handful of major cities while the interior of the country gets hollowed out. There are so many cities with millions of residents and their population is only increasing. The worst part is that we don’t even know what the population distribution is like now because the census hasn’t taken place since 2011. India needs far more cities and it needs to distribute its population across a wider geographical region.
- adrianN 3y ago
  Concentrating the population in a few areas is actually pretty good for the environment. It leaves room for nature and infrastructure becomes cheaper to build and more efficient to run.
  - immibis 3y ago
    Yes - economies of scale. Even if water has to be brought in from a distance, it's better than if some of the population actually extended out to that distance and got their water locally from the same location.
  - myshpa 3y ago
    The environmental impact is still number_of_individuals * mean_consumption. Urban areas often use more resources and generate more waste due to higher levels of economic activity. This contributes to a bigger environmental footprint. Cities can also shift some of their environmental impact to rural areas or other states or countries where things like food production, resource extraction and waste disposal happen. So, the true environmental cost of cities is often higher than it appears, especially when you consider the carbon emissions from transporting goods and waste.
    - ImPostingOnHN 3y ago
      > The environmental impact is still number_of_individuals * mean_consumption. you're basically just defining the mean here, this misses the point that cities are more efficient, making their mean consumption per capital lower
skymast 3y ago
[dead]
billfor 3y ago
It may triple due to a lot of things, which can include climate. The economist has article on urban development which makes me think at least part of the problem is population growth, in particular the 3rd picture showing the population growth. https://www.economist.com/asia/2023/08/14/how-to-fix-indias-decrepit-cities https://www.economist.com/asia/2023/08/14/how-to-fix-indias-...
llsf 3y ago
Groundwater depletion would create major disruption (as unrests and wars). This is literally a vital issue. Every country should take it seriously as matter of national security.
- esafak 3y ago
  Scientists have been talking about the dangers of global warming for decades. I don't know what else is left to say??
  - llsf 3y ago
    I still think that the impact is not fully grasped. And it might be due to human nature, to only believe what we can see and measure. If we tell, "you might get +2 degree Celsius in 2050". Most people cannot relate. Even if we say "+2 degrees is what happened 10,000 years ago, and made earth suitable for human growth (settling, agriculture, etc.)" We have been in that sweet spot (holocene) for 10,000 years, in a mere century we are going to depart from that sweet spot and make earth not suitable for human growth. http://www.faculty.ucr.edu/~legneref/bronze/jpg/climate.jpg http://www.faculty.ucr.edu/~legneref/bronze/jpg/climate.jpg "..the CO2 concentration in the air has stayed the same for the 10.000 years that preceed 1750, and have never gotten over the 1750 value (280 ppmv, and today we are at 350) fort the 400.000 years that preceed 1750. Actually, for these 400.000 years that preceed 1750, the atmospheric CO2 concentration has oscillated between 200 and 280 ppmv (graph below)." Source: Petit & al, Nature, June 1999 We are impacting the climate in a way that would take decades to appreciate the impacts. And the inertia is such that paper straws, or EVs are not going to make a dent. Every country should see it as a national security issue. We are at war and we do not know it. Every country should switch to war economy, and focus on the sustainability of its own economy. With a postulate that fossil fuel is going to end (effectively because we extract faster the fossil fuel is naturally produced), and that the whole economy would have to do without it. It requires to rethink the entire economy as everything is either made of, or made by fossil fuels.
sadfev 3y ago
No Groundwater is depleting due to out of control and growing population. And those people are demanding higher quality of life. India is severely undeveloped and polluted due to its population bomb explosion. Climate scare-mongering doesn’t solve the root problem.
p1mrx 3y ago
So everybody's making plans to desalinate seawater with carbon-free energy, right?
pvaldes 3y ago
neither arid India nor the north of China had enough water. China may hope to achieve some strategic control over the big Baikal Lake's reservoir in a near future probably.

72 points by myshpa 3y ago

There was already rampant misuse of ground water and no politician seems to be bothered https://www.worldbank.org/en/news/feature/2012/03/06/india-groundwater-critical-diminishing https://www.worldbank.org/en/news/feature/2012/03/06/india-g...

0xDEF 3y ago

There is also something about the Indian government subsidizing extremely ineffective outdated farming practices that waste a lot of water.

tuatoru 3y ago
Yes, electricity for water pumping is subsidised, and the water itself is not taxed. Imposing even tiny charges on water consumption by farmers would incentivize them to use water more efficiently. India could easily learn water efficient practices from Israeli farmers.

deleted 3y ago

[deleted]

deepGem 3y ago

I live in Bangalore, one of the cities which is primed for water depletion. In fact, there are areas where there is no drinking water supply at all and water is ferried by trucks (locally called water tankers). Now these trucks ferry water from God knows where but most likely a fresh water source or a borewell. Most of the neighbourhoods in my city are fed by these borewells some going as deep as 1000ft. Some neighbourhoods don't find water even at those depths and they have to depend on these water trucks. Now I'm not talking about a few hundred or thousand people I am talking about hundreds of thousands of people who live like this. The prime IT areas are all water depleted already. There is this notion amongst us Indians that things will improve somehow and we will get by. What they don't realise is that the politicians won't give a damn, when water depletion hits critical levels. In fact these water trucks are run mostly by politicians and their local goons. The ground reality in a city like Bangalore at the very fundamental liveable parameters is horrible and getting worse day by day. This year rains have been below average so we are staring at a water shortage next year even in areas that get fresh water from the regular water supply.

anshumankmr 3y ago
I live in Indiranagar and this is a sad reality of life here. These issues remind of this scene in Margin Call where two character talk about the impending 2008 crisis https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UOYi4NzxlhE&ab_channel=Movieclips https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UOYi4NzxlhE&ab_channel=Movie.... There are many major issues in India's growth story, and I feel the music is gonna stop really soon.
- toomuchtodo 3y ago
  All you can do is make sure you have a seat when the music stops. Nobody is coming to save us.
adrianN 3y ago
It is my understand that once an aquifer is depleted, there is no going back. The relevant strata collapse and become unable to carry water. So there is probably no way the situation can improve.
- anonuser123456 3y ago
  For some aquifers this is true, but not all.
mortureb 3y ago
Honestly India already has a solution for this that is not being implemented fast enough. The monsoons every year provide more than enough water to supply India for years every season, most of it just ends up in the oceans. India has to massively invest in catchment. There is some of this happening but it needs to be on a much larger scale.
- no_wizard 3y ago
  Though monsoon patterns may change with climate change too. There are some forecasts that have India much much drier by 2040 where the water is needed most[0] [0]: https://www.worldbank.org/en/news/feature/2013/06/19/india-climate-change-impacts https://www.worldbank.org/en/news/feature/2013/06/19/india-c...

jeffbee 3y ago

Much of the region is watered by glacier melt that will abruptly cease in the near future. This is a discontinuity not mentioned in the article.

spaceman_2020 3y ago

India’s current development strategy is unsustainable. There is large scale migration to a handful of major cities while the interior of the country gets hollowed out. There are so many cities with millions of residents and their population is only increasing. The worst part is that we don’t even know what the population distribution is like now because the census hasn’t taken place since 2011. India needs far more cities and it needs to distribute its population across a wider geographical region.

adrianN 3y ago
Concentrating the population in a few areas is actually pretty good for the environment. It leaves room for nature and infrastructure becomes cheaper to build and more efficient to run.
- immibis 3y ago
  Yes - economies of scale. Even if water has to be brought in from a distance, it's better than if some of the population actually extended out to that distance and got their water locally from the same location.
- myshpa 3y ago
  The environmental impact is still number_of_individuals * mean_consumption. Urban areas often use more resources and generate more waste due to higher levels of economic activity. This contributes to a bigger environmental footprint. Cities can also shift some of their environmental impact to rural areas or other states or countries where things like food production, resource extraction and waste disposal happen. So, the true environmental cost of cities is often higher than it appears, especially when you consider the carbon emissions from transporting goods and waste.
  - ImPostingOnHN 3y ago
    > The environmental impact is still number_of_individuals * mean_consumption. you're basically just defining the mean here, this misses the point that cities are more efficient, making their mean consumption per capital lower

skymast 3y ago

[dead]

billfor 3y ago

It may triple due to a lot of things, which can include climate. The economist has article on urban development which makes me think at least part of the problem is population growth, in particular the 3rd picture showing the population growth. https://www.economist.com/asia/2023/08/14/how-to-fix-indias-decrepit-cities https://www.economist.com/asia/2023/08/14/how-to-fix-indias-...

llsf 3y ago

Groundwater depletion would create major disruption (as unrests and wars). This is literally a vital issue. Every country should take it seriously as matter of national security.

esafak 3y ago
Scientists have been talking about the dangers of global warming for decades. I don't know what else is left to say??
- llsf 3y ago
  I still think that the impact is not fully grasped. And it might be due to human nature, to only believe what we can see and measure. If we tell, "you might get +2 degree Celsius in 2050". Most people cannot relate. Even if we say "+2 degrees is what happened 10,000 years ago, and made earth suitable for human growth (settling, agriculture, etc.)" We have been in that sweet spot (holocene) for 10,000 years, in a mere century we are going to depart from that sweet spot and make earth not suitable for human growth. http://www.faculty.ucr.edu/~legneref/bronze/jpg/climate.jpg http://www.faculty.ucr.edu/~legneref/bronze/jpg/climate.jpg "..the CO2 concentration in the air has stayed the same for the 10.000 years that preceed 1750, and have never gotten over the 1750 value (280 ppmv, and today we are at 350) fort the 400.000 years that preceed 1750. Actually, for these 400.000 years that preceed 1750, the atmospheric CO2 concentration has oscillated between 200 and 280 ppmv (graph below)." Source: Petit & al, Nature, June 1999 We are impacting the climate in a way that would take decades to appreciate the impacts. And the inertia is such that paper straws, or EVs are not going to make a dent. Every country should see it as a national security issue. We are at war and we do not know it. Every country should switch to war economy, and focus on the sustainability of its own economy. With a postulate that fossil fuel is going to end (effectively because we extract faster the fossil fuel is naturally produced), and that the whole economy would have to do without it. It requires to rethink the entire economy as everything is either made of, or made by fossil fuels.

sadfev 3y ago

No Groundwater is depleting due to out of control and growing population. And those people are demanding higher quality of life. India is severely undeveloped and polluted due to its population bomb explosion. Climate scare-mongering doesn’t solve the root problem.

p1mrx 3y ago

So everybody's making plans to desalinate seawater with carbon-free energy, right?

pvaldes 3y ago

neither arid India nor the north of China had enough water. China may hope to achieve some strategic control over the big Baikal Lake's reservoir in a near future probably.