Groundwater tables have been rapidly declining in almost all South Asian nations. And worse: Most governments have not yet formulated the institutional, administrative, environmental or legal mechanisms needed for better water management policies to come into place.

The region already has a fair share of trans-boundary river disputes (India has such disputes with six of its neighbors including Nepal, Bhutan, Tibet/China, Myanmar, Bangladesh and Pakistan). And by 2025--when projected migrations of water refugees are likely to effect changes in the demographic profiles of nations--the social conflicts and tensions in the region could accelerate further.

India--which has 16 percent of the world's population but only 2.45 percent of the world's land area and 4 percent of the world's water resources--has a grave drinking water crisis already. In as many as 15 states with major metropolitan centers, underground water levels have been falling almost 5 percent per year. Some could run dry as early as 2015 because of over-exploitation and misuse.

According to a study done by the New Delhi-based Central Ground Water Board, it will take just 2,600 additional tubewells, running at an average of 10 hours per day, to exhaust the entire reserve of underground water in Delhi. The federal states of Punjab, Haryana, Bihar, Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra and Orissa have also been listed by the Ground Water Board as potentially "gray areas." Board Chairman Dhirendra Kumar Chaddha said the Indian government's policy of charging the agriculture sector a flat rate for electricity was the main cause for the excessive extraction of ground water.

Pollution is also a problem, both for surface and ground water. pollution is certainly a big problem. India's Central Water Commission estimates that almost 90 per cent of the country's water sources are polluted with untreated industrial and domestic waste and pesticide and fertilizer run off from farms.

Sewage treatment facilities are inadequate in most cities and almost absent in rural India. A 1995 study by the Indian Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB), showed the dimensions of the problem: Of 8,432 large and medium industries surveyed throughout the country, only 4,989 had installed appropriate measures to treat wastewater before discharge. Of more than two million small-scale industrial units surveyed, very few were found to have treatment facilities, and their untreated wastes were found to be coursing their way into the country's water systems.

Said Central Water Commission Chairman Suresh Chandra: "We have a massive problem of polluted waters. And the government alone cannot handle this. The NGOs need to get more actively involved to promote awareness campaigns and promote attitudinal changes."

The consequences of water pollution are evidently very dire because many people in India still use water from rivers and lakes for drinking and bathing. An estimated 200 million Indians lack access to safe and clean water. Diseases like hepatitis and diarrhea and parasitic infections such as roundworm, hookworm and guineaworm are commonplace among these people. According to the World Bank, 21 per cent of all communicable diseases in India are water-borne. The Indira Gandhi Institute for Development Research in Mumbai (Bombay) estimates that water borne illnesses cost the country as much as $8.3 billion (366 billion rupees) per year.

Women and children are particularly susceptible to pollution. Toxins have a deadly effect on the reproductive health of women. Fluorides in the water have also been known to affect unborn children.

According to the World Health Organization, almost one million children in India die of diarrheal diseases each year as a direct result of drinking unsafe water and living in unhygienic conditions. Some 45 million people are affected by water quality problems caused by pollution, by excess fluoride, arsenic, iron or salt.

According to a recent estimate, about 1.5 million Indian children under five die each year from water-borne diseases. The country also loses more than 200 million workdays annually because of these diseases.

No less serious than pollution is the depletion of India's water reserves. At the current rate of the country's population growth, India's total water reserve will be entirely put to use by 2025. So where does the country go from here?