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Water security at risk in peri-urban India

 

The majority of India's population lives in water-stressed regions. Access to water is worsening in the face of population growth, increased demand, inefficient usage, overexploitation of groundwater, pollution, and climate change.

The India Infrastructure Report 2011 focuses on conflicts within the water sector in the context of India's existing institutional, political, and legal frameworks.

In their chapter, Changing Waterscapes in the Periphery: Understanding Peri-urban Water Security in Urbanizing India (PDF, 6.4MB), Anjal Prakash, Sreoshi Singh, and Vishal Narain, discuss the rapid development of the urban hinterlands of India.

Since peri-urban regions have specific social, economic, and institutional characteristics, there is a need to understand and document the changing nature of these regions more closely. In two case studies of peri-urban areas of Gurgaon and Hyderbad, the authors report on urbanization's impact on the lives of people and water sources in the regions.

This chapter draws on research supported by IDRC's Climate Change and Water program, Water Security in Periurban South Asia: Adapting to Climate Change and Urbanization.

Watch an interview with researcher Anjal Prakash:

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Watch an interview with researcher Vishal Narain:

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Watch an interview with researcher Muhammad Shah Alam Khan:

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