Sectoral water use

Topic: Water Resources of India: Availability, Use and Conservation · NCERT: Class 12, Ch 4 "Water Resources"

Meaning

Sectoral water use is the way a country's water is shared among three main users: agriculture, industry and domestic (household) users. In India, agriculture takes 89% of surface water and 92% of groundwater. Industry takes 2% of surface water and 5% of groundwater. Households take 9% of surface water and 3% of groundwater.

It matters because it shows where India's water really goes. It also shows where water can be saved. Farms use about nine out of every ten units of water, so making irrigation even a little more efficient frees up a lot of water for growing cities and factories.

Explanation

Why agriculture takes most of the water

• India is an agrarian economy.
• Farming is the main work of most people.

• So the Five Year Plans put irrigation first in water development.

• Rain is uneven, so crops need irrigation (giving water to crops by canals, wells or tanks when rain is too little or comes at the wrong time).

• Spatial variability: some places get heavy rain and others very little.
• Temporal variability: most rain falls in about four monsoon months (June–September).
• Winters and summers are dry, so rabi (winter) and zaid (short summer) crops need irrigation.

• Even wet states like West Bengal and Bihar face breaks in the monsoon (dry gaps of days or weeks during the rainy season).

• Thirsty crops: rice, sugarcane and jute need a lot of water.

• The Green Revolution raised farm demand further.
• HYVs (high-yielding varieties, improved seeds that give big harvests) work only with steady water.
• More than 85% of net sown area is irrigated in Punjab, Haryana and western Uttar Pradesh.

The three sectors and their two water sources

Sector	Surface water (rivers, lakes, tanks)	Groundwater (wells, tubewells)
Agriculture	89%	92%
Industry	2%	5%
Domestic	9%	3%

• How to read the table:
• Agriculture is the biggest user of both kinds of water.
• Industry takes more from groundwater (5%) than from surface water (2%).

• Households take more from surface water (9%) than from groundwater (3%).

• Groundwater picture today (Dynamic Ground Water Resource Assessment 2024):

• Yearly groundwater recharge (water that soaks back into the ground) is 446.90 BCM (billion cubic metres) [3]
• Extractable resource (water that can be safely taken out each year) is 406.19 BCM [3]
• Water actually taken out each year is 245.64 BCM [3]
• Stage of groundwater extraction (water taken out ÷ water that can be taken out) is 60.47% for India [3]
• By this ratio, each assessment unit is labelled Safe, Semi-critical, Critical or Over-exploited.

How the shares are changing

• Industry and domestic shares will rise.
• As the economy grows, factories and cities grow too.

• So farming's share will shrink in relative terms, even though farms will still use the most water.

• Total demand is close to the limit.

• The National Commission on Integrated Water Resources Development (NCIWRD, 1999) said demand could reach about 1,180 cubic km by 2050 in its high-demand scenario.
• India's utilisable water resource (the water that can actually be captured and used) is about 1,122 cubic km.

• So India could reach its water limit by the middle of the century.

• Irrigation is still spreading.

• Irrigated area rose from 49.3% to 55% of gross cropped area between FY16 and FY21 [2].
• Irrigation intensity (gross irrigated area ÷ net irrigated area × 100, which shows how many times the same irrigated land is cropped) rose from 144.2% to 154.5% [2].

Where it occurs

• Punjab: wells and tubewells water 76.1% of the net irrigated area (NCERT). Water tables are falling fast.
• Haryana: wells and tubewells water 51.3% of the net irrigated area (NCERT).
• Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh and Telangana: high irrigation coverage [2].
• Andhra Pradesh (2024): a state-level example of farm dominance. Irrigation takes 86% of groundwater drawn, domestic use 13% and industry 1% [4].
• Where each irrigation source is used:
• Canals: the north-west plains (Punjab, Haryana, western UP), the Indira Gandhi Canal in Rajasthan, and the deltas of the Mahanadi, Godavari, Krishna and Kaveri.
• Tanks: the hard-rock peninsula (Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana).

• Wells and tubewells: the alluvial northern plains (Punjab, Haryana, UP, Bihar), plus Gujarat, Rajasthan and Tamil Nadu.

• Water leaving through trade: growing 1 kg of rice in Punjab uses about 3,000–5,000 litres of water. So rice exports carry groundwater from stressed Punjab and Haryana out of the country as virtual water (the water hidden inside a product).

Don't confuse with

• Sectoral share vs stage of groundwater extraction: the sectoral share (92% for farms) tells you who uses the groundwater. The stage of extraction (60.47%) tells you how much of the safely extractable groundwater is being taken out [3].
• Utilisable water resource vs water demand: the utilisable resource (~1,122 cubic km) is the supply that can be captured. NCIWRD's 1,180 cubic km by 2050 is the projected demand.
• Virtual water vs water footprint: virtual water (Tony Allan, 1993) is the water hidden in one product. Water footprint (Hoekstra, 2002) is the total fresh water used to make all the goods a person, firm or country consumes.
• National sectoral shares vs state shares: NCERT's 92% is a national figure for groundwater. Andhra Pradesh's 86% for irrigation is a state figure from 2024 [4].

Prelims Hooks

• Agriculture uses 89% of surface water and 92% of groundwater. It is the largest user of both.
• Trap: domestic use takes a bigger share of surface water (9%) than of groundwater (3%). Industry is the reverse: 5% of groundwater but only 2% of surface water.
• India's stage of groundwater extraction = 60.47% (Assessment 2024). Extraction is 245.64 BCM out of 406.19 BCM extractable [3].
• Wells and tubewells water 76.1% of Punjab's and 51.3% of Haryana's net irrigated area (NCERT).
• NCIWRD (1999): demand could reach about 1,180 cubic km by 2050, close to the ~1,122 cubic km utilisable resource.
• Irrigated area rose from 49.3% to 55% of gross cropped area between FY16 and FY21. Irrigation intensity rose from 144.2% to 154.5% [2].

Mains Points

• Farm-led demand and the coming squeeze (GS-III):
• Agriculture uses about 90% of India's water, and industrial and domestic demand keeps rising.
• NCIWRD's 1,180 cubic km estimate for 2050 is close to the utilisable limit.

• So demand management (efficiency, pricing, recycling) matters more than building new supply.

• Groundwater stress in the Green Revolution belt (GS-I/III):

• Heavy tubewell use in Punjab and Haryana, encouraged by free power and paddy procurement, has caused over-exploited blocks and falling water tables.
• Rice exports add to the drain by exporting virtual water.

• Answer: crop diversification (moving to pulses, maize and oilseeds), direct-seeded rice, and pricing that reflects the value of water.

• Making farm water go further (GS-III):

• PMKSY (2015-16) joins new supply (AIBP, Har Khet Ko Pani) with on-farm efficiency (Per Drop More Crop). PDMC has run under RKVY since 2022-23 [5].
• Micro-irrigation (giving water in small amounts close to the roots, through drip or sprinkler) saves about 30–50% of water. It covered 95.58 lakh hectares by December 2024 [2].
• The National Water Policy 2012 asks for water-use benchmarks (water footprints) and water auditing, so that each sector's use can be measured.

Related concepts

• Need for irrigation in India
• Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchayee Yojana
• Drip irrigation
• Sprinkler irrigation
• Micro-irrigation
• Virtual water

Read more

• Water demand: sectoral use, irrigation need and efficient irrigation