New Delhi / Water management, not supply a challenge: Jal Shakti Minister Gajendra Shekhawat

Jal Shakti Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat makes no bones about his ambitious target. He says that his ministry has been charged with securing India's water supplies, and that the government has ambitious targets to meet. Speaking at India Today Mind Rocks Delhi 2019, Shekhawat explained that the biggest challenge is not water supply but water management.

"By 2024, we will supply piped drinking water to 100 per cent of homes in India," he says. "Speaking of just the rural areas, there are about 18 crore households. Only 3 crore have piped drinking water supply. Therefore, many people have to make 20-km round trip journeys to get water. This has to change."

"The PM has said that the first priority is sustainability of our water sources. The second is to make sure piped drinking water is available to all homes," Shekhawat also says, He's dismissive of those who ask if this target is even feasible: "When Kennedy said that Americans would walk on the Moon in 10 years, many people laughed. But they achieved it. The PM's target is also ambitious, not impossible. We will achieve it."

He's also dismissive of media reports that say India's metros will run out of water. ""[With reference to the NITI Aayog report saying 21 Indian cities would run out of water by 2020], this is a half truth. Yes, the ground water supply in these cities might run out. But many of those cities depend on surface water for their needs-from rivers-not from ground water sources like aquifers."

"Since Independence, the per capita availability of water has dropped to almost one third of what it was. This is not because of water depletion-it is because of how much our population has grown. Our challenge is water management, not supply. And for this, we look at countries like Israel for supply, which has around 10 per cent of our rainfall, but is a water exporter in its region," Shekhawat says.