BHUBANESWAR: Minister of State for Water Resources Raghunandan Das on Thursday informed the Assembly that the water availability position in the State will remain comfortable even in 2050. He, however, said that the per capita water availability will decrease over the years, but remain in comfortable zone.
Replying to a question from Soumya Ranjan Patnaik (BJD), the Minister said the average surface and ground water potential has been estimated at 141 billion cubic metre (BCM) which will reduce to 129 BCM in 2050. Taking the growth of population into account the per capita availability works out to 3,811 cubic metre at present and will reduce to 2,218 cubic metre in 2050.
Das said the average per capita water availability in the country which was 1,820 cubic metre in 2001 will reduce to 1,200 cubic meter in 2050. “If the water availability falls below 1,000 cubic meter per capita it is generally considered a scarcity condition. Based on this criterion, water availability position of the State will be comfortable in the State even in 2050,” he said.
Referring to the State Water Plan which was prepared by the Government in 2004, he said Rushikulya river basin will reach scarcity condition in about 50 years. Baitarani and Bahuda river basins will be close to scarcity condition in 2050. While the per capita water availability of Rushikulya basin will drop to 1,021 cubic metre, availability in Baitarani and Bahuda river basins will be 1,348 and 1,412 cubic metres respectively.