Beyond Crisis: Why India Needs Water Sovereignty Now?
The timing of the tragedies and urban areas being affected has shocked the nation, as Indore is a frontrunner for the cleanest city in India.
Published : January 8, 2026 at 7:07 AM IST
As the new year began, our celebrations were marred by three preventable water contamination tragedies. First, in Indore, about 10 people reportedly have lost their lives due to contaminated water, and thousands more are still affected. Second, in Gujarat’s capital, Gandhinagar, over 100 people are suffering from typhoid after drinking the city’s water. The third report came from Bengaluru, where citizens are reporting sewage like smell from the water.
The timing and urban areas being affected have shocked the nation, as Indore is a frontrunner for the cleanest city in India. Bengaluru is also an important urban centre that has been known for Green management and cleanliness. Gandhinagar is the Prime Minister’s own state capital.
The loss of lives and suffering of the innocent Indians is extremely mournful. It was good that compensations were announced, but money can’t be the only justice we offer. We need to steer clear of political mudslinging and use this water crisis as a litmus test for our various national government water programs. We also need to ensure no more lives are lost due to contaminated water.
We must begin with a meticulous investigation into the deaths and see if a pattern or glitch in our water management connects the three incidents. A larger question will loom on the Jal Jevaan mission, which has assured the public of a clean piped water supply for the nation. In the current budget, 67,000 crores were allocated to the program.
The source of the negligence needs to be addressed. Responsible officers and technicians need to be identified and brought before justice. But we shouldn’t stop at retribution. These three incidents have illuminated a big gap in our urban water supply system. We need to swerve as summer awaits us, where water demand will be much higher with reduced availability of water.
Now the government has already some wind of this looming water crisis, hence last year it asked the public work through the MNERGA scheme to be diverted towards rejuvenation and conservation of water in various districts. In some districts, up to 60% of the funds have been allocated for water works.
In previous years, NITI Aayog had also said that by around 2030, about half of our population will lack access to clean drinking water. Pollution, contamination, and a changing climate are also playing a devious role in shrinking our water.
In the winter of 2025-26, despite heavy rainfalls in the monsoon months, the Himalayan region is reporting less snow. Many parts of Himachal and Uttarakhand are still longing to see snow on the mountains. Meanwhile, rampant water pollution, illegal mining of rivers, and encroachment are destroying our surface water. Industrial agriculture and government subsidies on paddy, sugarcane, etc in drier agro-climatic regions are leading to excessive depletion of groundwater.
When summarised, firstly, we abuse our water; secondly, we excessively pollute our water, add climate change to it, and we have plummeting water reserves. This is matched by an excessive demand for water by citizens, agriculture, and industry each year.
Connecting pipes to households, or linking rivers, can be considered as short-term measures of ensuring water supply. But it doesn’t guarantee clean water. The recent incidents have shown that clearly. Even poison can run through our government water pipes. So a new outlook is required.
Instead of trying to reinvent the wheel, we must work to adopt the Gandhian concept of gram Swaraj into water, too. There is currently a paradigm shift required for water management in India. Instead of centralisation or privatisation, India needs to reorient its water governance and opt for a community-driven decentralised system of water management aided by the technology of the day. This is the only way we can bring water svaraj /sovereignty into our hands and ensure clean water is a priority for communities.
At the village level, each village or block should be given regional targets and finances under the various government programs to maintain local water bodies or catch a stipulated amount of rainwater. If possible, multiple villages could have a network of water reservoirs that catch even the last drop of rain and hold it.
Through this method, groundwater can be recharged in a short duration of time. This method is also very economical, as most structures will be mud or mortar-based. The purpose is to revive the traditional water-saving techniques and allow water to percolate inside the earth and also activate the subterranean hydrological movement of water.
At the district level, the network could connect various blocks and the urban centres, ensuring that there is more availability of water on the surface and below ground. Urban demands could be met if a decentralised community-led water rejuvenation plan were activated in every district.
Along with the rejuvenation efforts, an active watch on water quality should be maintained by each block or community. At the block level, the village representative should be responsible for the water quality, and a mobile phone-based alert system should be placed to alert people of any waterborne troubles.
India can only achieve water sovereignty or swaraj if we rely on the democratic and ecological sense of our civilisation. We have to revive old ponds and lakes, and make the rivers flow again through the revival of small ponds. Catchment areas need to be forested again, so the availability of water is increased, along with nature’s resilience.
We have to help transition our farms from water guzzlers to water holders. If we enrich our soils with organic matter, we drastically increase their water retention capacity. Hence, organic agriculture needs to be promoted under a sound water policy.
In all future city planning processes, each urban block needs to have a water harvesting reservoir as a mandatory feature. Concretisation of urban spaces has led to rainwater runoffs into the sewage, highly reducing the water absorption and groundwater recharge in urban areas.
To steer clear of NITI’s aayog’s warning, we have to unify and work towards a water-sovereign India, basing it on the wisdom of our civilisation. The need of the hour is not in big dams or huge water projects, but a revival of small ponds and community driven decentralised system of water rejuvenation.
