Daily Times

In India’s ‘Silicon Valley’ tech hub of Bangalore, where gleaming office complexes and apartment blocks have sprouted faster than the plumbing to serve them, only 60% of the water the city needs each day arrives through its water pipes.

Much of the rest is pumped from groundwater wells and delivered to homes and offices by a fleet of private and government tanker trucks that growl through the streets of the city of 12 million.

But Bangalore’s groundwater is running dry. A government think tank last year predicted the city – like others in India, including New Delhi – could run out of usable groundwater as early as 2020 as aquifers deplete.

By 2030, half of India’s population – now about 1.4 billion people – may lack enough drinking water, the report predicted.

Around the world, fresh water is fast becoming a dangerously scarce resource, driving a surge in fights to secure supplies and fears over rising numbers of deaths in water conflicts.

Water Conflict

Growing populations, more farming and economic growth, climate change and a rush of people to cities all are increasing pressure on the world’s limited water supplies, researchers say.

UN data shows 2 billion people – a quarter of the world’s population – now are using water much faster than natural sources, such as groundwater, can be replenished.

In 2015, the United Nations’ 193 members agreed a new set of global development goals, including one to give everyone access to safe and affordable drinking water by 2030.

But in places from Africa to the Middle East, “big rivers are drying out, the population is increasing, demand is piling up and we can’t supply (people) with water and food”, warned General Tom Middendorp, a former Dutch defence chief.