Water shortage in India: Woman collecting water from roadside tap, in Jammu

From the archive record

A woman with her children collecting water from a roadside tap in north India, perhaps in Jammu city. Is this a sign of things to come? The future is said to be one that will be decided by the availability of potable water and politics and war will center around the same. As a country that receives copious rain, water scarcity in India is mainly attributed to human factors. Water scarcity involves water stress, water shortage or deficits and water crisis. This may be due to both natural and human factors. But, many reports suggest that the scarcity is more due to the human factor than anything - such as industrialization, irrigation, domestic use, etc. The per capita availability of water in the country is 1545 cubic meters as per the 2011 census. The average annual per capita availability