Could doomsday be upon us?

Cleaning their beds and employing natural filtration methods is a relatively inexpensive way to recharge underground aquifers today - and could ensure greater water availability in future

The NITI Aayog recently reported that by next year, 21 Indian cities will run out of groundwater. With this year’s monsoon expected to be below par, pre-monsoon rain lowest in 65 years and 43.4 per cent of the country already reeling under drought conditions (as per the real-time drought monitoring platform Drought Early Warning System) — could doomsday finally be upon us? Perhaps. However, the newly formed ministry for water resources and related issues Jal Shakti could help postpone this eventuality by implementing proper policies to harvest rainwater, regulate groundwater usage and most importantly, recharge groundwater through rural ponds and