Agriculture accounts for 70 per cent  consumption of ‘physical’ water in Hyderabad, IITH study 

Indian Institute of Technology Hyderabad Researchers has undertaken a study of the water footprint of Hyderabad Metro Development Authority (HMDA) Region. Such assessment studies are vital as the development of strategies for sustainable water preservation hinges on understanding the pattern of water usage.

The study found that while agriculture accounts for nearly 70 per cent  consumption of ‘physical’ water, in what is known as the ‘green water footprint,’ urban areas consumed nearly 20 times more virtual water through their various consumption items than physical water, contributing to the ‘red footprint.’

Such hidden consumption patterns put enormous pressure on the already taxed water resources, which necessitates a proactive plan for conservation activities.

The study was led by Dornadula Chandrasekharam, Visiting Professor, Department of Civil Engineering, IIT Hyderabad, and his Research Scholar Dagani Koteswar Rao. They perform state-of-art research to understand the water consumption pattern in urban areas. This recent study has been published in the reputed peer-reviewed international journal Sustainable Cities and Society.

Given the water insecurity and trans-boundary water conflicts that threaten global peace, such studies would help in framing strategies and laws towards conservation and fair distribution of water.

Explaining the various ways in which water is consumed, Chandrasekharam said, “The obvious image of water consumption that comes to mind is the active or direct water ingestion by human beings, but the water footprint of humankind extends far beyond. Every single item that we use in our daily life, has used water at some part of its lifecycle. Water that is hidden in a non-obvious human commodity is called ‘virtual water’ and the ‘water footprint’ measures the amount of water that has gone into goods and services that we use.”

The IIT Hyderabad researchers assessed the water footprint of Hyderabad Metro Development Authority (HMDA) region, using a consumer-centric approach. The assessment of water footprint embedded in products was done in four broad categories, viz. food consumption, fuels based on fossil energy, electric power and direct water (municipal drinking water).

An observation of this study was that in the HMDA region, 96 per cent of water is consumed as virtual water, and only 4 per cent is ingested directly.  The maximum virtual water consumption was seen to come from the food industry (70 per cent), followed by the electric power sector (25 per cent). Surprisingly, the fossil fuel sector used only 1 per cent of the total water consumed by this city.

In order to formulate strict water policies and constructive water governance infrastructure for virtual and physical water quantification, it is necessary to take into account both physical water and virtual water.

Speaking on the need for developing ways to quantify water usage in urban India, Dagani Koteswar Rao, the IIT Hyderabad Research Scholar who also worked on this study, said, “While there has been much research on managing the direct water footprint in cities across the world, there are significant gaps in our understanding of indirect water footprint in Indian cities.”

 “The published work did not consider industrial and commercial water usage pattern”, clarified Dr Chandrasekharam and added that further studies are ongoing to study these areas as well.  Further extension of such studies into other urban regions of India will help the public and policymakers to take proactive steps in conserving the most precious resource of the era.

Exponential population growth, socio-economic development and changing consumption patterns have increased the worldwide use of water by 1 percent every year since the 1980’s. Chronic water stress affects nearly 2 billion people in the world, and 4 billion people experience severe water scarcity during at least one month of every year.  It is believed that the third world war would be fought over water.