As it is, everyone is fighting

Agriculture receives the greater share of the annual water allocation in India. According to the Union ministry of water resources (MoWR), 80 per cent of India’s utilisable water is devoted to this sector, mostly in the form of irrigation. Demand from the domestic sector has remained low and accounts for only 5 per cent of the annual freshwater withdrawals in India. The industrial sector is the second highest user of water after agriculture. But we do not know how much water industries in India consume. (See table: Industrial water use...)
How much water does Indian industry consume?
The estimations of national and international agencies on industrial water use in the country vary significantly.
According to MoWR, industrial water use in India stands at about 40 billion cubic meters or nearly 6 per cent of total freshwater abstraction.
According to the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB), in 2000, India’s annual fresh water withdrawals were about 500 billion cubic meter and the Indian industry consumed about 10 billion cubic meter of water as process water and 30 billion cubic meter as cooling water. Therefore, according to CPCB data, the water consumption in Indian industry accounts for about 8 per cent of the total fresh water use in the country.
Category 1990 2010 2025 2050
Irrigation 460 (88.6%) 536 (77.3%) 688 (73%) 1008 (70.9%)
Industries + Energy 34 (6.6%) 41.4 (6%) 80 (8.5%) 121 (8.5%)143 (10.1%)
Total (including others) 519 693 942 1422
Source: National commission for integrated water resources development plan, Ministry of
water resources, 1999
According to the World Bank, the water demand for industrial uses and energy production will grow at a rate of 4.2 per cent per year, rising from 67 billion cubic meter in 1999 to 228 billion cubic meter by 2025. Therefore, according to the World Bank the current industrial water use in India is about 13 per cent of the total fresh water withdrawal in the country.
Despite differences, the estimates on industrial water use by the three agencies have a point in common. All the three agencies concur that industrial water use is growing at the fastest pace in the country.