Water management to play key role in India's economic growth: Amitabh Kant

NEW DELHI: Water needs to be priced well as India's economic growth will be determined by how the country manages and recycles its water, Niti Aayog CEO Amitabh Kant said Monday.

Kant further stated that 30 per cent of urban and 70 per cent of rural water comes from groundwater, which is depleting rapidly.

"There is sheer shortage of water... Water needs to be priced well. If not, then people won't understand the value of water," Kant said while addressing a 'capacity building programme on management of water' here.


"India's economic growth will be determined by how we manage and recycle water," he added.

Noting that 75 per cent household don't have drinking water in their premises, Kant said, "India's water recycling capacity is only 30 per cent."

Speaking at the same event, Ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation secretary Parameswaran Iyer said that India should learn water management from Singapore and Israel.

Stating that water is a state subject in India, which makes cooperation and ownership of water management crucial, Iyer said, "Building infrastructure for storage, transmission and treatment of water is important, along with encouraging behavioral change mechanisms."

He also pointed out that India extracts more ground water than the US and China put together.

"Water is almost free in India. People are willing to pay for good services including water, but there is unwillingness on part of state to charge for water usage," he said.