ADB Report: India's Water Security Progress Threatened by Rising Climate Risk and Asia's Trillion-Dollar Funding Gap
SDG 6: Clean Water and Sanitation | SDG 13: Climate Action | SDG 17: Partnerships for the Goals
Ministry of Jal Shakti | NITI Aayog
The Asian Water Development Outlook (AWDO) 2025: The Index of Water Security for Asia and the Pacific report by the Asian Development Bank (ADB) highlights a paradox: monumental progress in lifting people out of water insecurity, shadowed by existential threats from environmental decline and massive funding shortfalls.
Global Context and Investment Gap:
Major Achievement: Since 2013, over 60% of Asia and the Pacific’s population—approximately 2.7 billion people—have been lifted from the most extreme forms of water insecurity by gaining access to basic water, sanitation, or better disaster protection.
Financial Challenge: The region faces a staggering investment shortfall, requiring $4 trillion through 2040 (or $250 billion per year) just to meet water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) needs. Current public spending covers less than 40% of this annual need, leaving a massive gap.
Key Threats: ADB warns that ecosystem decline and rising climate risks threaten to reverse these gains. Asia accounts for 41% of the world’s floods, with extreme weather events accelerating.
India-Specific Progress and Structural Challenges:
Rural Household Security: India has made significant progress, moving out of the “Nascent” stage due to flagship programs like the Jal Jeevan Mission (piped water) and Swachh Bharat Mission (sanitation). The national rate of open defecation has dropped sharply from 48% in 2013 to 11% in 2025.
Urban & Economic Security: Urban water security has improved with the expansion of sewerage networks through schemes like AMRUT. Investments in irrigation have boosted economic water security and food production, though reliability and efficiency issues persist in industry and informal urban settlements.
Environmental Degradation: Despite national initiatives like Namami Gange aimed at improving river health, India faces systemic environmental issues including deforestation, riparian tree loss, plastic pollution, and riverbed mining.
Disaster Exposure: India faces high exposure to floods and droughts, concentrated particularly in the Ganges–Brahmaputra–Meghna basin. Risks are worsened by inadequate land-use planning and urban expansion onto floodplains.
Policy Relevance
The AWDO 2025 provides a clear mandate for the Ministry of Jal Shakti to pursue twin policy reforms: Nature-Based Solutions and Innovative Finance. Policy must urgently shift to integrate climate adaptation measures into all water infrastructure planning to address glacier melt and flood risks. Simultaneously, the Ministry must mobilize additional funding through mechanisms like blended finance and green bonds to close the annual investment gap. Finally, sustained investment in inclusive governance, empowering women and local governments, is essential to ensure reforms are effective at the community level.
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