New Delhi: Voicing serious concern over the depleting water table, Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee on February 5 said there was an urgent need to end the indiscriminate exploitation of ground water and asked the states to legislate on the issue.

The states should take immediate action on the Model Ground Water Regulation Bill, which was circulated to all the states for adoption some years ago, he said at a function to declare 2003 as a "Year of Fresh Water".

Stating that the phenomenal increase in population and the dramatic rise in living standards of people led to sharp increase in demand for freshwater and the availability of freshwater had not increased, Vajpayee said this was a cause for great concern, especially since the planet's population was projected to increase to about eight billion by 2025.

Lamenting that the people were allowing river pollution to assume alarming proportions, he referred to the refusal by 'sants' to take a dip at 'Sangam', as it was polluted. It only showed that the "bad time" has come.

The poet in Vajpayee came to the fore as he quoted noted Sufi poet Rahim, who had highlighted that water was the prime need of human body, which would become useless for want of it.

"Mother Nature is reminding us to learn proper lessons from the wrongs we have committed. We have to respect and restore the delicate balance in Nature. Water is not unlimited," he said.

PTI