Improving water management in States

India's water sector has entered a stressed phase, and is likely to move into scarcity mode in the near future. It is projected that the country’s water demand by 2030 will be twice the available supply, implying severe water scarcity for hundreds of millions of people and an eventual loss of about 6 per cent of the country’s gross domestic product. Exposure to equitable and universal access to safe drinking water, adequate sanitation and hygiene, improving water quality, water reuse efficiency across all sectors, integrated water resource management at all levels, restoring water-related ecosystem, and participation of local communities are some of the areas where expertise of current water managers and policy-makers should be developed. The States and the local bodies should be adequately empowered to, among other things, manage the scarce water resources, make possible universal access to safe water, improve annual per capita water availability, and meet the increasing water demand in the near future.