Water Pollution and Abatement Policy in India: A Study from an Economic Perspective (Global Issues in Water Policy Book 10)

India has been traditionally well-endowed with large freshwater reserves, but increasing population, urbanization and agricultural growth in recent decades are causing overexploitation of surface and groundwater. As consumption of water grows, wastewater increases significantly and in the absence of proper measures for treatment and management, is polluting existing freshwater reserves. As a result, water pollution has emerged as one of the nation’s gravest environmental threats. This book draws a link between water pollution generated by different industries and the various economic activities of the Indian economy using the Input-output framework. It constructs a detailed water pollution coefficient matrix involving different types of water pollutants. The book estimates the total amount of water pollution generated directly and indirectly in different sectors and activities, and also calculates the water pollution content in India’s foreign trade sector. It also accounts for defensive expenditure from water pollution and estimates Green GDP for the extent and scope of environmental challenges. Analysis of the result indicates the variation in the pollution content of different economic activities. Finally, the book offers a portfolio of policies and assesses the implications of such policies on pollution generation in India. Front Matter....Pages i-xxv Introduction....Pages 1-21 Status of Water Pollution in India and Other Countries of Asia....Pages 23-45 The Methodology....Pages 47-51 Data Sources and Processing....Pages 53-99 Experiment with Models: Results and Discussion....Pages 101-118 Estimation of Water Pollution Content in India’s Foreign Trade....Pages 119-140 Simulation Exercises on Water Pollution Abatement Policies....Pages 141-164 Estimates of Green GDP....Pages 165-187 Review of the Case Studies....Pages 189-233 Summary and Conclusion....Pages 235-247 Back Matter....Pages 249-259