Water Future—Drivers of Changing Climate and Impacts

The key drivers of change in water demand are climate change, population growth, and growing water scarcity. Other drivers include changing diets and food demand, competition between sectors, deteriorating water quality, and falling groundwater levels. The gross irrigated area in India will increase from 76 to 117 M ha in 2050. The gross groundwater irrigated area will increase to 60 M ha by 2025 and to 70 M ha by 2050. The total food requirement will be between 382 and 449 million tonnes by 2050. Annual irrigation requirement will increase from 4.63 to 20.46% in 2050 and climate change will reduce major crop yields by 4.5 to 9%. The net irrigation requirements are expected to increase by another 5% and gross irrigation requirements by 10%. It is expected that the efficiency of groundwater irrigation would increase to 75% by 2050 and surface irrigation projects would also increase to about 60%. Efficient and integrated water management and implementation strategies are expected to bridge the future water supply–demand gap.