The National Green Tribunal (NGT) has sought a factual and Action Taken Report (ATR) from the Union Ministry of Jal Shakti and the Delhi Jal Board (DJB) on a petition that says there is huge wastage and misuse of fresh potable water across the country.

The petition was filed by Ghaziabad-based BJP councillor Rajendra Tyagi and NGO, 'Friends'. It says that water is being wasted from overflowing overhead tanks, obsolete flushing systems, running faucets, showers, washing cars, floors, leakages in distribution systems and swimming pools.

The petitioner said, "In next 10 years, around 40 million people will not have access to clean drinking water. Requisite remedial measures to prevent wastage and misuse of water are not being taken."

According to the petitioner, 48,420,000 cubic meters of water is wasted every single day. Around 163 million people are facing deprivation of fresh and drinkable water. And around 600 million people are facing extreme water stress in the country. As per the petitioner's study, India tends to waste water by keeping the water running from faucets which discharges as much as 5 litres in a minute while a regular shower flows out 10 litres of water per minute.

As per the study, the demand for water is expected to grow from 40 billion cubic meters currently to around 220 billion cubic meters in 2025.

The petition seeks directions to the Ministry of Jal Shakti and the Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change to take measures under Section 3 and issue directions under Section 5 of the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986 to all States and Union Territories (UTs) to make wastage/misuse of water through overflowing tanks or otherwise a punishable offence. The petitioner has also relied upon the Composite Water Management Index' prepared by the Ministry of Water Resources in June 2018.