Pick a place to see what's true there. Scroll for the system behind it.
CC BY-NC 4.0 · methodology · open data · source · numbers ±30% directional
National Ecosystem Intelligence · Systems Mapping · Unit Economics · Pan-India Actor Landscape
India holds 4% of the world's freshwater for 18% of its people and extracts ~25% of all groundwater globally. Government spends ₹2.5-3.5 L cr/yr on water schemes (Jal Shakti alone got ₹94,808 cr in FY2026-27); an estimated ₹3,000-5,000 cr/yr never produces its claimed outcome. This canvas maps where water is in trouble, what it costs to fix, and who is working on it.
Resource state in m³/capita/year · GW stress in % blocks · Capital flows in ₹ crore · Numbers ±30% directional. Baseline: CGWB 2025 · CWC · CAG 2022/2024 · 16th FC 2026 · MCA FY25.
Default is India. Pick a state from the Geography dropdown above · click any state on the map · or pick a basin. The page rewires to that place.
Pick a place to see its three axes — Health (quality), Availability (quantity), Impact (people + exposure) — plus its binding loop and the intervention it needs.
Seven things we track over time · with honest fidelity markers. The big chart-heavy sections that follow are the deep read · skim or skip as needed.
Seven things that should be moving, year over year. Dots = data confidence (●●● strong to ●○○ thin).
Every dimension indexed to 1995 = 100 (lower = worse). Aquifers, rivers, lakes and glaciers degrade together, even as scheme spend multiplied 5×.
Source: CGWB GEC cycles · CWC · CPCB river-stretch counts · DPCC + CPCB Yamuna BOD · Bengaluru tank inventory (urban research) · ICIMOD HKH glacier mass loss · NWIA 1992-93 + 2011 · scheme outlay (PIB / MoJS).
Width = volume (BCM, billion cubic metres). India total annual extractable: ~1,123 BCM rainfall + ~432 BCM groundwater recharge. Flows ±30% directional.
The seven layers compound — each rests on the one below. Cost tier per layer: ₹10 cr (pilot) → ₹100 cr (state-scale) → ₹1,000 cr (national). Source: gaps-deepdive.md.
5-phase build, ~₹500–1,000 cr cumulative over 10 years. Multi-anchor capital structure (≥3 uncorrelated funders, non-substitution clauses). Source: build-plan.md.
Cost per asset across the civic-side build. Numbers ±30% directional. Comparable to one mid-sized urban water-supply scheme augmentation at full scale.
| Whitespace seed | Capex (₹ cr) | 7-stack layer | Build phase | Multiplier on government scheme |
|---|
Eight binding constraints ranked by severity (1–10). Most are political-economy locks, not capital constraints.
What India has built · What is structurally absent. Source: gaps.md, data-and-groundtruth.md.
~₹3,000–5,000 cr/yr of disbursement that does not produce its claimed outcome — comparable to the entire annual Indian + foreign philanthropic + impact-finance water layer combined. Closing the capture is a higher-leverage move than expanding the philanthropic envelope.
Select 2-3 states to compare H/A/I scores · binding loops · build envelopes · partners side-by-side.
Implementing partners, funders, market vendors — sorted to who's active in your place when you pick one. Failed market players (Sarvajal · Spring Health · Naandi) shown alongside operational ones · transparency over varnish.
~80% of domestic water philanthropy flows through 10–12 implementing NGOs. The bench is one-deep behind a small front rank. Source: funders-flow.md.
| Partner | Type | Geography | Approx ₹/yr | Lead funders |
|---|
22 funders ranked by annual disbursement. Government schemes deploy 90%+ of rupee weight; the remaining 10% is where philanthropic shape decides everything else.
Six whitespace seeds aggregating ~₹520–810 cr capex over 10 years. Each mapped to the 7-stack layer it primarily fills. Source: funders-ecosystem.md.
For-profit water goods/services, operational and failed (Sarvajal · Spring Health · Naandi · Waterlife). Filter by state · sort by specialty.
Each question carries an explicit falsifiable test. Click to expand. Open an issue to dispute.
The artefact carries author-judgment in places where data is sparse or contested. Confidence intervals where I have a sense of them:
Water is the substrate every other sector consumes, contaminates, and depends on. Click a state in the map above, then open this to see the case cards re-anchor.
Two tracks: adapt to impacts already underway (drought, cryosphere, flood, salinity, Day-Zero) and mitigate root causes (over-extraction, pollution, energy-water nexus). Strategies highlight for the active place.
15 strategies · 8 adaptation · 7 mitigation. Pick a state or city to surface strategies most relevant there.
When the official number tells one story and the audit tells another · we publish the gap. Six tracks: tap coverage · CSR water-positive · pollution monitoring · scheme spend vs outcome · pledged capital vs deployed · falsifiable hypotheses.
Each claim below pairs the official number with what the audit shows, across six tracks.
Cite this work · submit a correction · contest a number · ground-truth your place · pledge to a whitespace seed · co-invest with a market actor · report an audit discrepancy.
Pick a state above · the actions below pre-fill with that place. Citation is one click. Corrections are a 14-day response commitment.
14-chapter prose folder + government datasets + multilateral + civic-side intermediaries. Numbers ±30% directional.