Published on: March 2026 2026
WATER SECURITY THROUGH WETLAND RESTORATION INDIA'S HYDROLOGICAL IMPERATIVE FOR THE 21ST CENTURY
Dr NR Jagannath
Dr M Nisha Priya Mani
Article Status
Available Documents
Abstract
Water security — defined as reliable access to sufficient, safe, and affordable water for human well-being, economic development, and ecosystem health — is India's most urgent national challenge (NITI Aayog, 2019). Home to over 1.4 billion people and ranked 120th out of 122 countries in the EIU's Water Quality Index, India confronts a deepening freshwater crisis wherein 600 million citizens face high to extreme water stress annually. At the heart of this crisis lies a fundamental, often overlooked truth: the systematic destruction of India's natural water security infrastructure — its wetlands.
India's wetlands — encompassing vast floodplains, coastal mangroves, highland lakes, seasonal ponds (talaabs), sacred groves (kunds), urban lakes, and trans-Himalayan marshes — are not peripheral ecological features. They are the functional backbone of the country's water security system (Millennium Ecosystem Assessment, 2005). They store and regulate water flows, recharge aquifers upon which 85% of rural India depends for drinking water, agricultural needs, mitigate monsoonal floods that kill over 1,600 people annually, purify drinking water naturally, and sustain livelihoods for over 200 million people. India has forfeited an estimated 30–40% of its wetland area since independence (SAC-ISRO, 2011), with losses exceeding 70% in states like Punjab and Haryana — directly translating into aquifer depletion, increased flooding, deteriorating water quality, and shrinking water availability.
How to Cite this Paper
Jagannath, D. N. (2026). Water Security Through Wetland Restoration India's Hydrological Imperative for the 21st Century. International Journal of Creative and Open Research in Engineering and Management, <i>02</i>(03). https://doi.org/10.55041/ijcope.v2i3.121
Jagannath, Dr. "Water Security Through Wetland Restoration India's Hydrological Imperative for the 21st Century." International Journal of Creative and Open Research in Engineering and Management, vol. 02, no. 03, 2026, pp. . doi:https://doi.org/10.55041/ijcope.v2i3.121.
Jagannath, Dr. "Water Security Through Wetland Restoration India's Hydrological Imperative for the 21st Century." International Journal of Creative and Open Research in Engineering and Management 02, no. 03 (2026). https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.55041/ijcope.v2i3.121.
Search & Index
References
- Baruah, S., Bharali, S., & Gogoi, B. (2020). Wetland Loss and Degradation in Assam: Status, Drivers and Restoration Prospects. Journal of Wetland Ecology, 14(1), 22–35.
- Central Ground Water Board (CGWB). (2022). National Compilation on Dynamic Ground Water Resources of India 2022. Ministry of Jal Shakti, Government of India.
- Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB). (2021). Status of Sewage Treatment in India 2021. CPCB, Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, New Delhi.
- Chilika Development Authority (CDA). (2018). Ecological Status of Chilika Lake: A Two-Decade Assessment (2000–2018). CDA, Government of Odisha, Bhubaneswar.
- Gopal, B., & Chauhan, M. (2006). Biodiversity and Its Conservation in the Sundarban Mangrove Ecosystem. Aquatic Sciences, 68(3), 338–354.
- Hiremath, A. J., Dinesh Kumar, L., & Sivaramakrishnan, K. G. (2013). Status of Wetlands in India: Policies, Programmes and Gaps. Ecological Indicators, 30, 178–186.
- Indian Meteorological Department (IMD). (2023). Climate Change Trends and Projections over India. IMD, Ministry of Earth Sciences, New Delhi.
- Kumar, R., Singh, R. D., & Sharma, K. D. (2005). Water Resources of India. Current Science, 89(5), 794–811.
- Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC). (2017). Wetlands (Conservation and Management) Rules 2017. Government of India, New Delhi.
- Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC). (2023). National Wetland Conservation Programme: Annual Report 2022–23. MoEFCC, New Delhi.
Ethical Compliance & Review Process
- •All submissions are screened under plagiarism detection.
- •Review follows editorial policy.
- •Authors retain copyright.
- •Peer Review Type: Double-Blind Peer Review
- •Published on: Mar 25 2026
This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License. You are free to share and adapt this work for non-commercial purposes with proper attribution.