Initiate study to evaluate climate change role in aggravating water scarcity, Par panel tells govt

New Delhi, Mar 20 (PTI) A Parliamentary Standing Committee has asked the government to initiate a study to evaluate the role of climate change in aggravating water scarcity, noting that changing global climate with the rise in temperatures has serious implications on water availability.

Combined with rising population and urbanisation, extreme climate events have already started having serious repercussions on water balance in the form of excessive rainfall within a short span of time causing floods and increasing runoff without enough water getting seeped into the ground causing a decline in the water table beneath the ground, the standing committee report on water resources, which was tabled in Parliament on Monday, said.

Long spells of summer with rising temperatures, on the other hand, leave the land parched without enough water storage in the face of disappearing water bodies due to human encroachments, it noted.