Industrial growth could flounder on water

With increase in industrial demand for water, India must invest in water infrastructure now to prevent water conflicts and industry shutdowns

We continue to disregard the fact that water is India’s most important and completely unreformed infrastructure sector. Lack of water could become a key constraint to sustained industrial growth in India. Over the last decade, industrial shut-downs due to water shortages have become increasingly common. Thermal power plants take up the highest proportion of industrial water used in India. According to the World Resources Institute, India lost about 14 terawatt-hours of thermal power due to water shortages in 2016, cancelling out more than 20 per cent of growth in total electricity generation since 2015. During 2013-16, water scarcity forced at