Groundwater Depletion is Reaching Tipping Point, Report says

Newsreel Asia Insight #27
Oct. 28, 2023

Imagine turning on your tap one day and nothing comes out. A parched land, dry wells and vanishing rivers may soon be India’s stark reality, says a UN report. Alarm bells are ringing particularly loud for the northwest, India’s “food basket,” where water scarcity could hit home by 2025.

You may not live in that region, so, why should you care? Well, this region feeds us. It churns out half of our rice and a whopping 85% of our wheat. If the water goes, so does our food. Think empty dinner plates and skyrocketing prices.

The UN report, “Interconnected Disaster Risks Report 2023,” points out that an incredible 78% of wells in Punjab, a core part of this region, are already overworked.

In simpler terms, we’re using water faster than nature can refill it. We’re not alone in this mess though. Globally, more than half of the world’s major underground water banks are in overdraft. When these “water savings accounts” dry up, it’s like hitting a point of no return. The consequences? Farmers lose their lifeline, and the food chain is disrupted.

The U.S., for instance, ships 42% of its crops grown from this vanishing water to countries like Mexico, China and Japan. And when it comes to guzzling groundwater, India surpasses even the combined use of the U.S. and China.

Advances in farming and policies that have made water cheaper to use are turning our water taps to the max. It’s like upgrading from a moped to a gas-guzzling SUV but forgetting we have only a limited amount of fuel in the tank.

You may not think water affects much outside of your daily shower and chai, but it’s a huge player in things you wouldn’t expect, like climate change. The UN report warns that sucking water from the ground at such high rates is even nudging the Earth off its axis by 4.36 cm per year. Countries like Saudi Arabia have already crossed this dangerous line.

The UN isn’t just looking at water; it’s piecing together a much larger, scarier jigsaw puzzle. Imagine a spiderweb of disasters, each thread influencing another. In their annual “Interconnected Disaster Risks Report,” first rolled out in 2021, they’ve coined a term you should know: “risk tipping points.” It’s that gut-wrenching moment when the balance tips, and there’s no turning back.

Think of it like a house of cards. You pull one card, and the whole structure could collapse. These “risk tipping points” are the junctures where our social and ecological worlds can’t take the pressure anymore, leading to disastrous chain reactions.

If that sounds like the stuff of apocalyptic movies, it’s because the risks are very real. Our actions, be it wasting water or burning forests, can tip us into a domino effect of catastrophes. And once that first domino falls, stopping the rest becomes nearly impossible.

The UN is urging us to see the connections. Our depleting water isn’t just a singular problem; it’s a key card in a precarious house. Pull it out, and we might just bring the whole thing tumbling down. So next time you think of waste as “just a drop,” remember, it could very well be the drop that spills the cup.

It’s time to ditch the old ways. We need smart policies and savvy tech solutions to ensure we’re not just splashing around in the shallow end but truly preserving our life-giving waters for the long haul.

As we march towards 2025, our dinner plates and our future hang in the balance. This northwest region in India isn’t just the breadbasket; it’s the heartbeat of India. If it skips a beat, we all feel it. It’s time to listen to the alarm bells — they’re tolling for us all.