“The Story of Water in India” outlines the food/water/energy crisis in India, and presents different solutions the Columbia Water Center is pursuing in the country.
But while this increase in irrigation allowed India to provide more food for its population, it also led to severe overexploitation of groundwater resources. Unchecked, depletion of groundwater at the current rate will have catastrophic consequences. At the same time, continued lack of access to clean, reliable household water — coupled with poorly managed water storage — perpetuates disease and impacts livelihoods.
The Columbia Water Center is currently studying and designing cutting edge approaches to agriculture and water management to help slow and reverse groundwater depletion and pollution while increasing both access to and safety of household water.