Himalayan springs are drying. It's a threat to India's ecological stability and national security

Indian Express

a day ago

Written by Kabindra Sharma and Vimal Khawas
In a village in Darjeeling Himalaya, women now spend over an hour each morning fetching water from a drying spring that once flowed freely just outside their homes. What was once a region abundant in freshwater is now marked by growing scarcity, as springs, the primary source of water for Himalayan communities, are drying up at an alarming rate. This slow but steady disappearance of springs is not merely a rural inconvenience; it indicates a deepening ecological crisis with significant human security implications.
The Indian Himalayan Region (IHR) stretches approximately 2,500 km and supports the livelihood of over 50 million people. Known as the 'water tower of South Asia', it is the source of major river systems, including the Indus, Ganges, and Brahmaputra, fed by glaciers and numerous springs. These springs, critical groundwater sources, are vital for local communities and ensure the ecological and hydrological stability of downstream regions.
Though 70 per cent of Earth's surface is covered by water, only 2.5 per cent is freshwater, and less than 0.3 per cent is usable. India, home to 18 per cent of the world's population and 15 per cent of its livestock, depends on just 4 per cent of global freshwater resources. According to Central Water Commission, India's per capita water availability has significantly decreased from 5,177 cubic meters in 1951 to 1,486 in 2021 and is projected to decline further to 1,367 cubic meters by 2031.While urban water crises gain attention, remote Himalayan villages bear the brunt of this scarcity, often overlooked.
According to a 2018 report by NITI Aayog, nearly 50 per cent of springs in the IHR are either drying up or have already dried up. Across India, approximately 200 million people rely on spring water, particularly in ecologically fragile mountain systems such as the Himalayas, Western and Eastern Ghats, and the Aravallis. Yet, until recently, these vital sources have received scant attention in national water governance frameworks. The national water policies of 1987 and 2012, which constitute the most comprehensive water policies of India to date, made no mention of springs. This omission reflects a broader pattern of institutional neglect.
It was only in 2018 that NITI Aayog released its first report on the Inventory and Revival of Springs in the Himalayas for Water Security, formally acknowledging both the significance and degradation of these sources. Since then, incremental steps have been taken. The Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, through the National Mission on Himalayan Studies (NMHS), has supported a number of pilot initiatives focused on spring revival. Yet, these efforts remain fragmented and insufficient in scale.
Field evidence indicates that a systematic approach is both essential and feasible. Sikkim's Dhara Vikas initiative, launched in 2008, exemplifies sustainable innovation in addressing water scarcity. By employing hydro-geological techniques like contour trenches and percolation pits, the programme has mapped nearly 2,000 springs, reviving approximately 200 springs and six lakes across 1,000 hectares. This effort recharges over 1.7 million litres of groundwater annually, enhancing water access, sanitation, and crop yields for rural communities, demonstrating a scalable model for sustainable water management. Similarly, a pilot project by Sikkim University implemented under the National Mission on Himalayan Studies in a drought-prone Darjeeling village significantly enhanced spring discharge within three years. These examples highlight the effectiveness of community-driven, hydro-geologically informed solutions.
However, the consequences of inaction are increasingly apparent. The depletion of springs goes beyond reduced availability fuelling social conflicts. Reports from villages highlight rising disputes over water access often turning into verbal and physical clashes. This erosion of a shared resource is weakening trust and cooperation in rural Himalayan communities, posing both ecological and socio-political challenges. In strategically critical Himalayan border districts, where both civilian and military infrastructure rely on local water systems, drying springs also raise national security concerns. Ensuring water availability is, therefore, vital not only for sustaining livelihoods but also for maintaining national stability.
Without a dedicated national framework for spring-shed management, especially in the vulnerable Himalayan region, flagship initiatives like Jal Jeevan Mission (JJM), aiming to provide functional household tap connections to all rural households by 2026, face significant implementation hurdles. Although the Ministry of Jal Shakti's 2019 guidelines acknowledge the need for spring rejuvenation, the focus remains on integrating with overstretched schemes like Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA), Integrated Watershed Management Programme (IWMP), Finance Commission grants, state initiatives, and discretionary funds such as Members of Parliament Local Area Development Division (MPLADS), Member of Legislative Assembly Local Area Development Scheme (MLALADS), and CSR allocations. This convergence-driven approach, while pragmatic in intent, lacks institutional clarity and long-term sustainability, raising doubts about the effectiveness of current strategies for restoring and preserving drying springs.
While the policy shift marks a significant change from earlier frameworks that overlooked Himalayan region's unique hydrological and socio-environmental challenges, it still fails to deliver systemic transformation. The reliance on a uniform, one-size-fits-all policy across India's diverse ecological and topographic landscapes, particularly in the Himalayas, obstructs targeted, locally relevant, and sustainable solutions. Moving forward, policymakers must embrace a tailored, place-based strategy that recognises the ecological complexity, cultural nuances, and hydro-geological distinctiveness of the Himalayan region. This approach is critical for ensuring water security, enhancing long-term resilience, sustaining livelihoods, and maintaining geo-strategic stability in this ecologically fragile and strategically vital part of India.
The success of programmes like the JJM depends not only on infrastructure development but also on the sustained availability of source water. In ecologically fragile and water-scarce Indian Himalayas, neglecting the rapid depletion of springs threatens to render water supply infrastructure ineffective, jeopardising efforts to achieve service delivery goals.
Sharma is associate fellow, SaciWaters, Secunderabad and Khawas is professor, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi