Equity

Indian cities are growing, and so is the demand for water in the cities. Large cities like Mumbai have focused on planning, designing, and constructing dams throughout history to meet their increasing water needs.

The earth is heating up!

A UN report predicts that 50 percent of India’s population will be living in urban areas by 2030.

The world has already warmed to over 1°C above pre-industrial levels, largely due to the burning of fossil fuels such as coal. This is causing ever-increasing rates of climate-related events such as floods, droughts, and wildfires.

India’s urban population is expected to grow around 800 million by 2050, which is predicted to create major challenges for urban water management.

India is drying up fast with low costs and the ease of availability of groundwater technologies triggering uncontrolled extraction of groundwater. And groundwater is not only important for irrigation in India. About 90 percent of rural drinking water comes from groundwater while 50 percent of the water supplied to urban areas comes from groundwater besides 70 percent for irrigation!

Women and young girls fetching water from distant sources, walking miles, carrying loads on the head, some pots precariously placed at their waist is a familiar scene, especially in low and medium-income countries where water scarcity is high.

Women Water Champions is an initiative by National Water Mission, Ministry of Jal Shakti, the Government of India, UNDP India and Stockholm International Water Institute (SIWI) to underscore the critical role

A recent study on the impact of COVID-19 on migrant workers in India indicates that almost 75% of the surveyed workers did not have any source of income after the lockdown and almost 45% reported difficulty due to food shortages.

One silver lining to a brutal 2020 was that it brought long overdue recognition to India’s frontline workers. Throughout the pandemic, we witnessed ASHA workers reaching out to make families aware of safety measures and village-based professionals conducting surveys to identify the needs of the most vulnerable.