| In India, a country that experiences long dry seasons, groundwater is an essential resource and each landowner can use the water from the water tables beneath his land. With the intensification of agriculture and the improvement of foraging techniques, 15 million wells have been drilled since the 1950s. Today, three quarters of the water used for irrigation comes from water tables. In some places, water table levels are significantly decreasing. They have decreased by 1 to 3 m on over more than 75% of the territory. About 600 km3 of water is taken from the environment every year and 90% of this volume is for irrigation. In towns and in the countryside, women are most affected by water problems. They spend many hours fetching water, travel many miles on foot and sometimes lose a whole day waiting for their turn... In some cases, young girlsstop going to school very early to be able to help fetch water. According to the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), by 2050, when the Indian population will stabilise at between 1.5 and 1.8 billion inhabitants, the country will need 30% more water.
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