How climate chaos is rewriting India’s water future
The State of Global Water Resources Report 2024 reveals that parts of India have experienced extreme rainfall, while Himalayan glaciers continue to melt
Recent extreme floods, cloudbursts, and cyclones across parts of India have caused devastating economic losses and a sharp rise in fatalities. The writing is on the wall: the Modi government appears to be failing to address man-made climate change — a failure that is gradually rendering India increasingly unliveable.
The reckless pursuit of infrastructure projects in high-altitude states near the Himalayan range, coupled with rapid urbanisation, is contributing to a precipitous drop in water tables and the misuse of critical water resources. These trends do not bode well for a nation of 1.45 billion people.
“Water brings life — it sustains our societies, our economies, our ecosystems — but it also brings death,” warns Professor Celeste Saulo, Secretary-General of the Geneva-based World Meteorological Organisation (WMO).
More worryingly, the world is now witnessing what the report calls a “New Abnormal”: only one-third of global river basin areas fell within the “normal” range, while the rest experienced extremes.
Ironically, even as global populations grow and demand for water intensifies, countries are simultaneously confronting water-related hazards on a scale that mirrors the accelerating pace of climate change.
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Global water resources report out
In releasing the flagship ‘State of Global Water Resources Report 2024’ on Thursday (September 18), Prof. Saulo cautions, “The water cycle has become increasingly erratic and extreme.”
“It swings between deluge and drought — between too much and too little,” she emphasised, calling on governments to urgently scale up science-based monitoring systems.
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Worse still, these erratic shifts in the water cycle “have cascading impacts on infrastructure, agriculture, energy, public health, and economic activity”.
2024 hottest year on record globally
Among the report’s key findings: 2024 was the hottest year on record globally.
Only one-third of the world’s river basins experienced normal hydrological conditions. The remaining two-thirds were either significantly above or below average — what the report terms “the new normal: an abnormal state”.
Last year marked the third consecutive year of widespread glacier loss, with 450 gigatons of freshwater vanishing — equivalent to 180 million Olympic-sized swimming pools — adding approximately 1.2 millimetres (mm) to global sea levels.
The picture is equally alarming in regions experiencing drought: parts of South America, Southern Africa, and even several Indian states.
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“El Niño played a role,” Professor Saulo noted, “but scientific evidence confirms that our changing climate and rising temperatures are driving more frequent and extreme events.”
'Without data, we risk flying blind'
Crucially, governments must step up investment, foster international collaboration, and improve monitoring and data-sharing. “We cannot manage what we do not measure,” Professor Saulo repeatedly stressed. “Without data, we risk flying blind.”
Erratic monsoons, catastrophic cloudbursts, and deadly landslides are not isolated incidents. They are part of a global pattern of “teleconnections” — complex atmospheric linkages that tie distant weather systems together.
“The key message,” added Professor Stefan Uhlenbrook, WMO’s Director of Hydrology and principal author of the report, “is that the water cycle is no longer behaving as we once considered normal. Globally, 60 per cent of rivers had either too much or too little water.”
According to Professor Uhlenbrook, above-average rainfall in South Asia — particularly India and Pakistan — as well as in the Sahel, Central Asia, and parts of the Russian Federation, was largely driven by shifts in precipitation patterns.
More worryingly, the world is now witnessing what the report calls a “New Abnormal”: only one-third of global river basin areas fell within the “normal” range, while the rest experienced extremes.
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“Warmer river temperatures have multiple implications for aquatic ecosystems,” he noted, presenting detailed datasets to support the findings.
While some regions recorded record snow cover, it melted earlier and faster than usual.
As for glaciers — including those in the Himalayas — “it’s a sad story,” says Prof. Uhlenbrook.
Glacial regions continue to see mass loss
They are retreating rapidly. For the third year running, all glacial regions worldwide recorded a net mass loss.
Since the 1970s, glacier melt has contributed 25 mm to global sea level rise.
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Little wonder the world is now experiencing “Hydrological Extremes” — severe drought in the Amazon basin alongside catastrophic flooding in multiple countries, including India.
Conspiracy theories of geo-engineering
Instead of adopting science- and research-based hydrological policies, some media outlets have floated speculative claims that China’s geo-engineering projects may be responsible for recent cloudbursts, floods, and extreme weather.
Such narratives are not only unsubstantiated but also distract from — and undermine — the critical work of data-driven monitoring and research.
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Even in the United States, the Trump administration significantly downsized and defunded oceanographic and meteorological centres of excellence — institutions once regarded as the world’s most advanced early-warning systems.
WMO’s hydrological experts dismissed the plausibility of large-scale geo-engineering effects, grounding their rebuttal in basic physics: a warmer atmosphere holds more moisture. For every degree of warming, air can retain approximately seven per cent more water vapour, which translates into more intense rainfall during storms.
The sheer scale of the phenomena being observed, WMO officials stress, renders the idea of geo-engineering causation unimaginable.
These are natural processes, supercharged by thermodynamics. They reinforced this with attribution science — studies that directly link the increased frequency and severity of specific extreme weather events to human-induced climate change.
Natural disasters not isolated
Erratic monsoons, catastrophic cloudbursts, and deadly landslides are not isolated incidents. They are part of a global pattern of “teleconnections” — complex atmospheric linkages that tie distant weather systems together.
The message from experts is unequivocal: the abnormal is now our reality. Governments face a stark choice — to harness knowledge, collaboration, and innovation to navigate this dangerous new water world… or to continue flying blind.
