Water-Energy Nexus in Resource-poor Economies: The Indian Experience

The paper examines the nature of water-energy interactions at the level of end users in an economy where the demand for both water and energy exceeds the available supplies of these resources. The paper attempts an assessment of the nature of coping strategies adopted by individuals to deal with shortages/uncertainties/unreliability in the availability of water and energy per se and in inter-linked activities, and to provide indicative estimates of the cost of the prevailing supply scenario. The paper also examines the nature of policy interventions that could help in moving towards bridging the gap between the demand and supply of water and energy, especially in inter-linked activities. The scope of the paper is confined to the agricultural/irrigation and urban water supply sectors. Attempts at bridging the gap between demand and supply of both the resources call for both short-run and long-run solutions. A favourable policy environment, improved management of utilities, better organization and methods of existing infrastructure, metering of consumption, charging of rational tariffs for these services, larger investments in the creation of new capacities and a more active role of the private sector could to a large extent help in narrowing the gap and making the water and energy sectors more sustainable in the long run.