Which sector is the single largest consumer of freshwater in india

At a time when there is a need to increase agricultural production with depleting water resources, the focus is directed towards improving agricultural water productivity and efficiency. However, the report finds issues with the methods used for measuring agricultural water productivity and efficiency, and the application of these concepts and methods.

Hence, it recommends designing interventions with the local hydrologic, policy, and institutional contexts in mind. We are a voice to you; you have been a support to us. Together we build journalism that is independent, credible and fearless. You can further help us by making a donation. This will mean a lot for our ability to bring you news, perspectives and analysis from the ground so that we can make change together.

India Environment Portal Resources : Co-optimizing solutions in water and agriculture: lessons from India on water security Can improved agricultural water use efficiency save India's groundwater?

Feeding a thirsty world - Challenges and opportunities for a water and food secure future Beyond crop per drop: assessing agricultural water productivity and efficiency in a maturing water economy.

Please use a genuine email ID and provide your name. Water billion cubic metres: India's water withdrawals for agriculture is the highest in the world Globally, irrigation accounts for an estimated 70 per cent of total freshwater withdrawal By DTE Staff Published: Thursday 28 June Globally, the area equipped for irrigation almost doubled from million hectares to million hectares in 50 years.

Credit: Wikimedia Commons. Domestic uses of water withdrawals can also dominate in some countries across Europe with high rainfall, such as the United Kingdom and Ireland where agricultural production is often largely rainfed and industrial output is low.

As global population grows increasing agricultural, industrial and domestic demands for water , and water demand increases, water stress and the risk of water scarcity is now a common concern. Water stress is defined based on the ratio of freshwater withdrawals to renewable freshwater resources.

If water withdrawals exceed available resources i. The visualization provides a measure of levels of water stress across the world. This is measured based on freshwater withdrawals as a share of internal renewable resources.

The World Resources Institute categorise water stress in the following ways: if withdrawals are less than 10 percent of resources then a country has low water stress; percent is low-to-medium stress; percent medium-to-high; percent high stress; and greater than 80 percent is extremely high stress. Many, such as Saudi Arabia, Egypt, United Arab Emirates, Syria, Pakistan, Libya have withdrawal rates well in excess of percent — this means they are either extracting unsustainably from existing aquifer sources, or produce a large share of water from desalinisation.

In the chart we see agricultural water withdrawals as a share of total water withdrawals versus gross domestic product GDP per capita. This links strongly to the structure of economies; at lower incomes, agriculture forms a higher share of total GDP and a larger share of agricultural employment. Globally, 70 percent of water withdrawals are used for agriculture. However, water requirements vary significantly depending on food type.

This water footprint is the sum of water requirement across the full value chain for example, the requirement of meat production includes the water requirement of the animal as well as the demand of the crops grown for animal feed. This value also includes the quantity of wastewater or water which is polluted as a result of agricultural production. It can include water from primary renewable and secondary freshwater resources, as well as water from over-abstraction of renewable groundwater or withdrawal from fossil groundwater, direct use of agricultural drainage water, direct use of treated wastewater, and desalinated water.

It does not include in-stream uses, which are characterized by a very low net consumption rate, such as recreation, navigation, hydropower, inland capture fisheries, etc. Water for the dairy and meat industries and industrial processing of harvested agricultural products is included under industrial water withdrawal.

This sector refers to self-supplied industries not connected to the public distribution network. It includes water for the cooling of thermoelectric and nuclear power plants, but it does not include hydropower.

Water withdrawn by industries that are connected to the public supply network is generally included in municipal water withdrawal. It is usually computed as the total water withdrawn by the public distribution network. It can include that part of the industries and urban agriculture, which is connected to the municipal network.

Renewable internal freshwater resources refers to the quantity of internal freshwater from inflowing river basins and recharging groundwater aquifers. Data on renewable resources should be treated with caution; since this data is gathered intermittently, it fails to capture seasonal and annual variance in water resources which can be significant in some nations.

Data at a national level also fails to capture variability at more local levels, which can be important when analysing the sustainability of particular groundwater aquifers or surface water basins. Water stress is defined in its simplest terms as occurring when water demand or withdrawal substantiates a large share of renewable water resources. The World Resources Institute WRI define baseline water stress based on the ratio of annual water withdrawals to renewable resources.

Water scarcity is more extreme than water stress, and occurs when water demand exceeds internal water resources. Freshwater use. Click to open interactive version. Renewable freshwater resources. Renewable freshwater resources per capita. Per capita renewable water resources by region. Agricultural water withdrawals.

What share of agricultural land is irrigated? Industrial water withdrawals. Household water withdrawals. Water stress and scarcity.

The chart shows the total internal renewable freshwater resources by region. What determines how much water we use? Water requirements per tonne of product. Water requirements per kilocalorie. Water requirements per gram of protein. Water withdrawals. Data Sources. World Development Indicators — World Bank. Wordpress Edit Page. Our World in Data is free and accessible for everyone. Help us do this work by making a donation.

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