India’s surging water crisis
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India’s sixth largest city, Chennai, is in crisis after its reservoirs and
rivers ran dry. As many as 20 other conurbations face running out of groundwater by next year, affecting 100 million people
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INDIA
Jalandhar 
Amritsar 
Ludhiana
Patiala 
Gurugram
Bikaner 
Jodhpur
Vellore
Agra 
Jaipur
Ajmer
Mohali 
Yamuna Nagar
New Delhi
Ghaziabad
Indore 
Ratlam 
Gandhinagar
Hyderabad
Bengaluru
Chennai 
BAY OF BENGAL

Western region 5.0bcm 16%
Southern region 8.5bcm 16%
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Cities expected to run out of groundwater by 2020
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Chennai’s reservoirs 
1. Poondi
2. Cholavaram
3. Red Hills
1.6 million cubic metres – less than 1% of total capacity
Chennai’s rivers
4. Chembarambakkam
5. Kosasthalaiyar River 
6. Cooum River
7. Adyar River
All three rivers are dry
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Reservoir storage levels (billion cubic metres, bcm, % of capacity)
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CHENNAI
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 
TAMIL NADU
BAY OF BENGAL

5 miles 8km
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Sources: Reservoir Storage Bulletin, 11/07/2019; Niti Aayog; IndiaSpend
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