in its make india water positive initiative the times of india addresses wastage and mismanagement of water this series will also look at successful examples of communities industries or groups taking steps to conserve or replenish water sources we hope this will inspire others to replicate these modelsright on the edge of the ganga basin that spans 11 indian states lies naujhil block a few kilometres west of the yamuna in ups mathura district you would think this is a blessed location with plentiful water all round with its 17 tributaries including the yamuna gangas catchment area has about 525 billion cubic metres bcm of surface water and about 171 bcm of groundwater on average it receives a million cubic metres of rainfall on every square kilometre but naujhil block is a declared dark zone that is its groundwater extraction far exceeds the recharging rate and use of electricity for pumping water is not permitted because of heavy withdrawal the groundwater is very saline now subhash nauwar a farmer from managarhi village in the area says about 3540 years ago there was no problem this is the khadar floodplain of the yamuna and its water would recharge the groundwater sources but people wanted more crops so a bund was built to prevent flooding now there is no water its bizarre most residents of managarhi use bottled water for drinking and cooking as if they were living in a desert and not in one of the worlds most waterrich plains this water scarcity is spreading across india smothering idyllic villages and highrise city habitats in equal measure no indian city supplies 24x7 drinkable water to all of its residents in many cities including bengaluru and chennai water scarcity has reached crisis levels and in pampered delhi every summer brings intense water scarcity for the disadvantaged sections meanwhile in rural india zooming agricultural production over the years has mostly been fuelled by heavy use of groundwater because not enough investment was made for using surface and rainwater through canals and reservoirs now take a look at indias water equation after accounting for losses due to evaporation and unusable water like brackish water or swamp water the total usable water available in the country is 1123 bcm while the total water consumption in 2006 was 829 bcm projected to rise to 1093 bcm by 2020 so in just a few years india will reach its limit of water consumption because water supply cannot be increased it is a definite finite resource increase in population has of course contributed to the situation reaching these dire straits but a closer look will reveal gross mismanagement and neglect by governments coupled with an unbridled destruction of resources as if there is no tomorrow take rainwater for instance just 18 of rainwater is used effectively while 48 enters the river systems most of which just fl ows into the ocean according to narayan hegde a water expert with the baif research development foundation farm ponds percolation tanks