Saving water: India needs a balanced management template to avert crisis

Though big dams such as the Sardar Sarovar and pipe-building programmes such as the Har Ghar Nal Yojana seek to address the issue of access, the real challenge is ensuring balanced water ecology

India could be staring at a severe water crisis this summer with snowfall on the Himalayan-Hindu Kush range reaching a 23-year low for a third consecutive year, according to the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development’s latest “Snow Update” report. “Snow persistence”, or the time the snow remains on the ground, is almost 24 per cent below normal. This means that water levels in the subcontinent’s major river systems — the Ganga, Brahmaputra, and Indus — will be running low since snowmelt in April, May, and June typically accounts for a significant part of the annual river flows. Such low