Kumar Mishra Institute of Environment and Sustainable Development, Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh, India
Sunil Mittal Department of Environmental Science and Technology, Central University of Punjab, Bathinda, Punjab, India
Indica Mohan Department of Environmental Sciences, Central University of Jammu, Samba, Jammu and Kashmir, IndiaAnam Naheed Institute of Environment and Sustainable Development, Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh, India
Supriya Nath Central Water and Power Research Station, Pune, Maharashtra, India
Ramesh Oraon Department of Nanoscience and Technology, Central University of Jharkhand, Ranchi, Jharkhand, India
Kajal Patel Department of Botany, University of Delhi, New Delhi, India
Sanjeet Kumar Paswan Department of Nanoscience and Technology, Central University of Jharkhand, Ranchi, Jharkhand, India
Deepak Pathania Department of Environmental Sciences, Central University of Jammu, Samba, Jammu and Kashmir, India
K.S. Rao Department of Botany, University of Delhi, New Delhi, India
Krishna Rawat School of Environment and Sustainable Development, Central University of Gujarat, Gandhinagar, Gujarat, India
Prafulla Kumar Sahoo Department of Environmental Science and Technology, Central University of Punjab, Bathinda, Punjab, India
M. Sathya Environmental Informatics and Spatial Modelling Lab (EISML), Department of Ecology and Environmental Sciences, School of Life Sciences, Pondicherry University, Pondicherry, Puducherry, India
Naresh Kumar Sethy Department of Chemical Engineering and Technology, IIT (BHU), Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh, India
Shashikant Shivaji Vhatkar Department of Nanoscience and Technology, Central University of Jharkhand, Ranchi, Jharkhand, India
Reetika Shukla Institute of Environment and Sustainable Development, Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh, India
Sushil Kumar Shukla Department of Transport Science and Technology, Central University of Jharkhand, Ranchi, Jharkhand, India
Ajeet Kumar Singh Environmental Informatics and Spatial Modelling Lab (EISML), Department of Ecology and Environmental Sciences, School of Life Sciences, Pondicherry University, Pondicherry, Puducherry, India
Anubhuti Singh Institute of Environment and Sustainable Development, Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh, India
Gurudatta Singh Institute of Environment and Sustainable Development, Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh, India
Priyanka Singh Institute of Environment and Sustainable Development, Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh, India
Ram Kishore Singh Department of Nanoscience and Technology, Central University of Jharkhand, Ranchi, Jharkhand, India
Sukhendra Singh School of Biochemical Engineering, IIT (BHU) Varanasi, Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh, India
Rupika Sinha Department of Biotechnology, MNNIT, Allahabad, Uttar Pradesh, India
K.S. Sista Research and Development, Tata Steel, Jamshedpur, Uttar Pradesh, India
Swati Department of Botany, BHU, Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh, India
Indu Tripathi Department of Botany, University of Delhi, New Delhi, India Department of Environmental Studies, University of Delhi, New Delhi, India
Shashank Tripathi Institute of Environment and Sustainable Development, Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh, India
Bhawna Verma Department of Chemical Engineering and Technology, IIT (BHU), Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh, India
Satyam Verma Environmental Informatics and Spatial Modelling Lab (EISML), Department of Ecology and Environmental Sciences, School of Life Sciences, Pondicherry University, Pondicherry, Puducherry, India
Jitesh Narottam Vyas Central Water and Power Research Station, Pune, Maharashtra, India
Amit Kumar Yadav School of Environment and Sustainable Development, Central University of Gujarat, Gandhinagar, Gujarat, India
Deepak Yadav Chemical Engineering Department, Harcourt Butler Technical University, Kanpur, Uttar Pradesh, India
Monika Yadav Department of Environmental Studies, Faculty of Science, The Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda, Vadodara, Gujarat, India
1 Water Security and Human Health in Relation to Climate Change: An Indian Perspective
Ravishankar Kumar, Prafulla Kumar Sahoo, and Sunil Mittal
Department of Environmental Science and Technology, Central University of Punjab, Bathinda, Punjab, India
1.1 Introduction
The capacity of a population to maintain sustainable access to sufficient quantities of acceptable quality water to ensure human well‐being, livelihood, socio‐economic development, protection against water‐borne and water‐related disasters, and to preserve ecosystems is termed as water security (UN Water 2013). Water demand is increasing with time due to the booming population, rapid industrialization, rampant urbanization, and extensive agricultural practices. In the world, nearly 785 million people lack a safe drinking water service, including 144 million people dependent on surface water (WHO 2019). Nearly, 1.8 billion people use feces contaminated drinking water sources and have a high risk of contracting cholera, dysentery, typhoid, and polio (WHO 2019). It has been estimated that the world population will be around 9 billion by 2050 and water availability will be less than the current availability (UN WWDR 2015). As per a World Health Organization (WHO) estimation, by 2025, 50% of the global population will be living in water scarcity areas (WHO 2019). By 2050, the global water demand is expected to increase by 20–30% as compared with the current scenario, due to growing demand in the domestic and industrial sectors (UN WWDR 2019). The estimation of the United Nations World Water Development Report (2016) indicated that more than 40% of the global population could be living in severe water stress areas by 2050.
Presently, the world's two most populous countries, India and China, are facing severe water security problems. However, the conditions are more critical in India both in terms of quantity and quality due to a lack of required infrastructure, health services, and management. India has only 4% of the world's freshwater but accounts for 16% of the global population. India ranked 120th out of 122 nations in water quality index and 133rd among 180 nations in water availability
