Per Capita Availability of Water in The Country

The Government has informed Lok Sabha that the 11th Plan document points out that the total water resources availability in the country remains constant, the per capita availability of water has been steadily declining since 1951 due to population growth. Giving this information in written reply to a question in the Lok Sabha, Shri Vincent H. Pala, Minister of State for Water Resources, said that the twin indicators of water scarcity are, per capita availability and storage. A ‘per capita availability’ of less than 1,700 cubic metres is termed a water stressed condition, while if it falls below 1,000 cubic meters, it is termed as water scarcity condition. Shri Pala informed the House that while on average the country may be nearing the water stressed condition, on an individual river basin wise situation, 9 out of our 20 river basins with 200 milllion populations are already facing a water scarcity condition. However, the per capita availability of water works out to be 1,625 cubic metres as per the current population of the country in 2010.