Urban and industrial water use in the Krishna Basin, India
2009
Van Rooijen, Daniel J. | Turral, Hugh | Biggs, Trent Wade
Regional urbanization and industrial development require water that may put additional pressure on available water resources and threaten water quality in developing countries. In this study we use a combination of census statistics, case studies, and a simple model of demand growth to assess current and future urban and industrial water demand in the Krishna Basin in southern India. Water use in this "closed" basin is dominated by irrigation (61.9 billion cubic metres (BCM) yr⁻¹) compared to a modest domestic and industrial water use (1.6 and 3.2 BCM yr⁻¹). Total water diversion for non-irrigation purposes is estimated at 7-8% of available surface water in the basin in an average year. Thermal power plants use the majority of water used by industries (86% or 2.7 BCM yr⁻¹), though only 6.8% of this is consumed via evaporation. Simple modelling of urban and industrial growth suggests that non-agricultural water demand will range from 10 to 20 BCM by 2030. This is 14-28% of basin water available surface water for an average year and 17-34% for a year with 75% dependable flow. Although water use in the Krishna Basin will continue to be dominated by agriculture, water stress, and the fraction of water supplies at risk of becoming polluted by urban and industrial activity, will become more severe in urbanized regions in dry years.
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