Peak Water in India: Dry wells narrate the story

India’s water resources are under stress by the growing needs of agriculture and manufacturing sectors. Better availability of water, which keeps natural and manmade contaminants at bay; spell several business opportunities for this key sector.

The International Food Policy Research Institute says that by 2020, the world will have an additional two billion people, who will require 20 per cent more water than is currently available.
By 2025, the world population is expected to rise to 9 billion from 6.5 billion now. But the global demand for fresh water already exceeds supply by 17 per cent , according to the Population Institute. World Bank figures show that water demand is doubling every 21 years.

Opportunities in areas like recycling, newer conservation technologies, desalination and grey water recycling are improving as India’s per capita water availability is set to reduce from 1,970 cubic metre per year in 2009 to less than 1,000 in 2025 due to water stress degrading reserves, the Indian Academy of Science says.

“To improve water and sanitation, the government had pumped in more than Rs 50,000 crore in the past four years. With 63 tier-I and tier-II cities, including tourist destinations, about to replace their water supply, drainage and sanitation facilities, this budget is likely to go up manifold,” union water resources secretary Dhruv Vijai Singh said. Allocations under the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission and by state governments, would raise government spending on water several times in the next plan period, he added.

Delhi-based Earth Water group, a pureplay water company with annual turnover of over Rs 500 crore, foresees big business coming from water softners and biological treatment for sewage treatment, that leaves no chemical sludge.

“Biological treatment of water is going to be a big thrust area for us. We would be using biological solutions in more of our applications,” says H Subramanian, co-founder of Earth Water group.
India plans to adhere to UN’s Millenium Development Goal of having 90 per cent sanitation coverage by 2013. “Water recycling, setting up of treatment plants for sewage and industrial effluents would become priority areas,” said Subramanian.

India’s sanitation coverage, as per joint reports of World Health Organisation (WHO) and Unicef, the use of improved sanitation coverage in rural areas of India was 7 per cent in 1990 and it rose to 21 per cent in 2008. Urban sanitation coverage increased from 49 per cent in 1990 to 54 per cent by 2008. The coverage of sanitation facilities in the rural areas is more than 65 per cent, says an NSSO survey.

Besides this, treating effluents from power plants would also be a major revenue earner for water treatment firms. India is likely to be the third-highest global energy consumer by 2030, when it could import 50 per cent of its natural gas and a staggering 90 per cent of its oil.
“The explosive growth of power infrastructure would make the sector a big demand driver for us,” said MS Unnikrishnan, MD and CEO of Thermax India.The company has inked technological collaborations with Germany’s Wehrle, experts in waste water treatment and specialists in handling difficult-to-degrade effluents. It has also signed technology pacts for exclusive use of GE’s patented effluent treatment and water recycling technologies.

Other areas are providing saline water treatment solutions, in which a number of foreign collaborations are being worked upon.
With a chunk of demand from agriculture, canals and irrigation systems are also a priority. Out of 329 million hectare of geographical area, the cultivable area is about 182 mha and of this 140 mha is sown. Only about 62 mha, just slightly over 44 per cent of the cropped area, is reported as irrigated in India.
“Conserving water in agriculture is a big revenue driver. With farm mechanisation finding favour with farmers as well as government, we expect out turnover to triple in the next three years,” said Anil B Jain, managing director of Jain Irrigation Systems.

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