A looming water crisis in the country may find an answer in an idea mooted by the water resources secretary Dhruv Vijai Singh - declaration of water footprint. Modelling it on the lines of the carbon footprint, Singh said, "This is an idea for future…It will help in conserving water and better utilisation of it,” at a conference on sustainability here in New Delhi. 

“We all talk about carbon foot print, why don’t we have a water footprint. Industry should be able to declare whatever water is utilised, recycle it back for use,” Singh said.

The idea is at a nascent stage globally, mostly limited to discussions at seminars. Water footprint is sometimes used to know how much water food items use and then rank them accordingly.

The water resources secretary's message for the industrial sector  was, “Try to be water neutral, perhaps a lot could happen.”

He also spoke of how the country started facing problem in terms of water availability. “The development along with Delhi-Mumbai Industrial Corridor is hampered for simple reason that the industrial nodes which contemplated setting up industries at Rewari and in Rajasthan do not have the required water. The development of industries in Noida and Greater Noida is not taking place because there is no water available,” he said.

“At least 415 million cubic metres of water are thrown out by Delhi, New Delhi and surrounding areas as waste water. Additionally, Noida, Greater Noida and Ghaziabad contribute 215 million cubic metres,” Singh noted. 

However, government is looking at different solutions to solve water crisis in the NCR region.  “The companies from abroad are preparing some feasibility studies which we can also use as a tempplate. We would like to utilise the waste water,” he added.

He also described Delhi, Punjab and Haryana as the most water stressed area and said these states were utilising more water from ground to meets its demand.