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It is not easy to answer this question. There are efforts but they do not address the need of the society to be assured of water for now and foreseeable future.

India receives an average annual precipitation of fresh water estimated at 5, 300 Billion Cubic Meters. The distribution of the rainfall fall is widely varying. Cheeranpunji district in the North East received an annual fall of 11, 000 mm where as there are many districts in the Rajasthan and Gujarat where the annual rainfall does not exceed 200 mm while the average rainfall over India is 1, 170 mm per year. The country has a number of perennial rivers on the one hand, but most of the rivers are seasonal with the residents in that river basin having to fend for themselves in non-rainy seasons.

Industry consumes around 7% of the water resources. The processes adopted by them do not optimize the water usage; especially recycling of water is not addressed in water guzzlers like thermal power plants. Nearly 88% of the Industrial usage of water is consumed by the power generating units. There has been very little to suggest that efficient use of water is being addressed by the industries. The following table reveals the extent of low productivity found in the Indian Industries when compared to their counterparts elsewhere.

The thermal plants in India consume 80 cubic meters of water to produce 1000 kWh of power as compared to 10 cubic meter of water consumed by modern plants operating in developed nations. The textile, paper, fertilizer and engineering industries also use 2 to 3 times more water to produce per standard unit of output when compared to modern plants operating elsewhere. The industry most times renders the water unusable after process and most often end up polluting the water sources compounding the damages. In the recent years this has led to industry community conflicts in the states of Karnataka (Harihar Poly fibers), Maharashtra (Sinar Paper Pulp), and Kerala (Pepsi, Grasim Industries). While the industries are charged for the usage of water, they are not penalized for the pollution or not treating of the discharges that spoil the eco system.

The water usage in agriculture is driven by profits from produce and is often tilted to heavy water using cereal crops. Rice (3, 450 liter) and wheat (1, 450 liter) are two largest water guzzlers. Although India grows large varieties of drought resistant crops like maize, bajra, ragi etc the food processing industry is introducing more products based on rice and wheat. The law makers are focusing on the appropriate regulations to curb or tax the efforts of the food processors to deter their popularizing these processed food whereby existing water woes are only added to. In other words existing set of law makers do not address the need to preserve water through incentives and penalties. This becomes more obvious when we go over their debates as and when the river water sharing disputes dominate the news stories. It is usually filled with the right rather than promoting optimal usage as and when the water can be used.

It is interesting to note that the daily requirements of fresh water do not even amount to 10% of the water available for use. Most of the water is used by agriculture and industry. But the fresh water supply is often ferried from long distances. Each of urban areas in India get their supplies from a river source located 150-300 KMs. Increasing urbanization has added to this problem. Even in urban areas the poor pay a very high price to get water as part of earnings or even in absolute terms as the local mafia is ever vigilant to exploit such opportunities. The poor manage to get around 30-40 liters per day as against 1, 600 -2, 000 liters of water per day used by a five star hotel resident

What are the opportunities?

The available water resources clearly indicate a perennial shortage that need to be addressed through right policy framework regulating the water use by various segments of society and amongst the competing agriculture, industry or personal purposes. The lawmakers will sooner or later through legislations create opportunities for technologies or methods that will augment supply, ensure proper usage. Recycling, Desalination, osmosis are some of the processes that will soon be on highest demand in India. Without reforming the water supply and distribution, which is currently being managed by the local governments, it is not possible to tackle the water crisis. The need for 24X7 assured quality fresh water supply to all citizens with equity in pricing and quantum supplied is likely to be dominant objective of such a reform.

Jain Irrigation is a well known listed company that has specialized in the water distribution as well as water management technologies. It has recently tied up with Mekorot, the national water company of Israel to work together to ensure 24X7 fresh water supply. The latter has proven processes that address client, business development, waste water, and water supply/ maintenance management. Jain Irrigation is strong in last mile delivery solutions in water management, built around tested systems that efficiently distribute water to designed uses. The stock appears to be good pick in the region 575 -610 even for near term gains.

I shall cover Jain Irrigation and other opportunities in forthcoming reviews.