Study of Theme : Water Management

Research Topic : Necessity of Water Management in India

Author’s Name : M. Muralidharan, Student of Masters of International Relations and
Strategic Studies, School of International Relations and Strategic Studies, University of
Mumbai
Email ID : [email protected]
Contact : 9004036855

Abstract
The literature examines the necessity of Water Management in India, from ancient times
Indians know the value of water and there was various steps taken to save the water by
constructing, wells, manmade lakes and constructing small dams for water management.
Effective and sustainable water management is vital for ensuring sustainable development. In
view of the vital importance of water for humans and animal life., for maintaining ecological
balance and for economic and developmental activities of all kinds and considering its
scarcity, the planning and management of water and its optimal, economical and equitable
use has become a matter of utmost urgency. Water management in India is paramount
importance to sustai9n one billion plus population. Water management is a composite area
with linkage of various sectors of Indian economy including the agricultural, industrial,
domestic and household power, environment, fisheries and transportation sector.

The water management practices should be based on increasing the water supply and water
managing demand under the stressed water availability conditions. For maintaining the
quality of freshwater , water quality management strategic are required to be developed for
planning and management of water resources project. There is a interplay of various factors
that govern access and utilization of water resources and in light of increasing demand of
water it becomes important to look for holistic and people centered approaches for water
management. Clearly drinking water is too fundamental and serious an issue to be left alone
with one institution alone It needs to combined initiative and action of all. Safe drinking
water can be assured, provided to address. This literature with the review of various options
for sustainable water management in India.
Introduction : Water is one of most important resource for sustaining life. The sustainable
development and management play a important role in agriculture production. India had rich
supply of water resources, However from being a water plentiful country. India gradually
progressing towards water scarcity due to increasing population pressure and urbanization.
The Water Management is a activity to control water resources in order to minimise the
damage of property and life and maximize its efficient use, It is also called as process of
planning, developing and distributing for the optimum use of water resources under well
defined water policies and regulations. The necessity of Water Management in India is
important for the sustainable development. Though India is blessed with heavy rainfall but its
also raised unplanned development and management of water is leading scarcity and India’s
dependence on an increasingly erratic monsoon for its water requirements which increases
this challenge. Climate Change becomes a key role for the unpredictable rainfall patterns is
also exacerbate the pressure on water resources, even though frequency and intensity on
floods and drought in the country increased. Due to this agricultural production is seen many
difficulties due to its only dependence on monsoon season. After rivers, lakes and ponds
Indian villages are largely reliant on ground water. Over the years the groundwater level is
largely diminished in Indian which creates serious problems by ground water depletion such
as Increasing pumping costs, deterioration of water quality, reduction of water in streams,
rivers, lakes, reservoirs and ponds also land subsidence. Stressors that can deplete aquifers
include changes in rain precipitation and snowmelt patterns, withdrawal of groundwater for
drinking, irrigation and other human user; and impervious paved surfaces that can prevent
rain precipitation from recharging ground water. Some deep aquifers might take thousands of
years to replenish and restore. Most of the Indian states are depended on monsoon season for
its rain requirement such as Maharashtra. Tamil Nadu and Rajasthan. The demand of water is
increased due to The rapid industrialization and urbanization. The ground water from 1951 to
2023, statistics data shows that going by 2001 figures daily per capita groundwater level
availability in the country come down to 5,120 litres about 35% of 14,180 litres in 1951. In
1991, it was less than half of the 1951 stock and near future the availability of groundwater
level will be decreased. It happened lack of awareness about groundwater among the Indian
population. On the Northern India especially Indian Himalayan states the population largely
depended on springs in Hindukush Himalaya which provide water for 240 million people and
are hotspots for biological and cultural diversity. The Indian Himalayan Region(IHR), part of
the HKH region provides water to 50 million people in the Indian subcontinent. There are 5
million people across India of which nearly 3 million people are in Indian Himalayan Region
alone. Almost every river in India has atleast parts of origin in springs . The springs also
supply pipped water such as Jal Jeevan Mission, a state run programme to provide safe and
adequate drinking water to all households in rural India. However, nearly half of the
perennial springs in the Indian Himalayan Region have already dried up or become seasonal.
Thousands of villages currently faces acute water shortages. In Sikkim, Northeast India
which is completely dependent on springs for drinking water, spring flow of all springs has
diminished by half due to Climate Change and Manmade activities have depleted water
resources and destroyed the water quality in the Indian Himalayan Region. Over the last
century, the average temperature in the Indian Himalayan Region has already exceeded the
global average, which impacts spring water availability. If the current depletion of spring
continues, achieving the Sustainable Development Goals for water security, gender equality
and poverty reduction will be a major challenge. Water pollution is playing a another for
water scarcity in India. Lakes and Rivers are biggest source of drinking water for the major
cities and towns due to population explosion, urbanization at an uncontrolled, the rate of
urbanization has only gone up at a fast pace in the last decade the pollution on water bodies
turned into imminent. Industries are situated near water bodies are main problems for water
pollution on the other side solid waste created by a large population in urban areas. This led
to water scarcity in supply. In India the treatment and disposal of wastewater has also been a
major issue. The areas near riverside have seen plenty of towns and cities come up with this
growing intensity. Uncontrolled urbanization on these areas has also led to generation of
sewage water. In the urban areas water is used for both industrial and domestic purposes from
waterbodies such as rivers, lakes, streams, wells and ponds. This polluted water also seeps
through the surface and poisonous groundwater. Water pollution can have some tremendously
adverse effect on the health of any and every life form living vicinity of the polluted water
body or using water that had been polluted by some extent. There is a need for awareness on
protecting the water bodies especially with rivers, lakes and ponds as well as streams. Over
usage or wastage of water also a problem which needed to be addressed. There is lack of
awareness on usage of water among Indian population. The average rain precipitation is
1221.95 mm in 2020 and in 2021 the average rain precipitation is decreased into 1209.84
mm. In 2022 the annual rainfall is calculated across India amounted to 1257 milli meters.
This was a slight increase of 2020 record of rainfall precipitation. In which Rajasthan is the
driest state in India, while other states such as Odisha and Karnataka received a average
rainfall and Arunachal Pradesh is among the states which received the highest rainfall.in
India. The vary of rainfall in India increases the distrust on it and inability to store water and
recharge the groundwater level in India as people are not well aware about rain water
harvesting. Land encroachment is a big problem for rural places, India has 2.4 million water
bodies which are in West Bengal, followed by Uttar Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Odisha and
Assam. In which 97 % (23,55,055) in rural places and 2.9 percent in urban areas(69,485) in
which 38,496 water bodies reported to be encroached ,a majority are ponds followed by
tanks. A estimation of 24,516 encroached water bodies revealed that in 15,396 of them(62%).
The census was conducted by the Ministry of Jal Shakti it is India’s first water bodies census
which was conducted (2018-19). The census provides a comprehensive inventory of India’s
water resources which includes natural (22%) and manmade(78%) water bodies such as
ponds, tanks, reservoir, check dams and lakes. The report disclosed that for 24,24,540 water
bodies in the country 82.1% were in use, 1.6 percent is encroached upon remaining 16.3%
(34,94,500) not in use were mostly dried up, destroyed beyond repair or affected by industrial
effluents construction activities, siltation or salination and pisciculture. The census will help
us to save water bodies from illegal encroachments and pollution also emphasis necessity of
water management

Hypothesis : Necessity of Water Management in India is important for the sustainable

development of economy. Climate change has been taking toll on the country weather
patterns, which in turn is impacting agriculture, human life and bio-diversity and especially
on water resources. One of the most severe and immediate effects of climate change can
been see on the availability of water in India. The country receives 80 percent of the rainfall
happens due to the southwestern monsoon within a period of June, July and August period
sees very huge amount of heavy rainfall across most of the parts of India On the other hand
22 out of 32 cities in India continuously suffer from the acute water scarcity. The situation is
not better in most towns and rural areas. Climate change has made the problems worst for the
country. Various shifts suggest that amount of rainfall in the country is rather constant.
However the total of rainy days has decreased. This means heavier downpour on rainy days.
The mismanagement of water is a big problem due to corruption and inability. Poor water
management can lead into major water scarcity in the country. As the country agriculture is
totally depended on the monsoon season which makes the issue more serious has it will make
impact on agricultural production. Climate also increases the pressure on the usage of
drinking water local population due to lack and delay of rainfall which might trigger serious
problems such as poor sanitation, health and human life . Major cities are largely depended
on rivers and lakes for their drinking water for this purpose the water bodies are need to
protected from human activities around it. Local municipal corporation inability to dumping
the sewage water lead into water problems for the citizens. Over the years municipal
corporation lack of infrastructure to treat the sewage water. This reduces the water
availability in Indian cities. In India, traditional water conservation approaches have largely
been ignored. The increasing urban population and the demand for household water, drinking
and sanitation services have been exerting immense constraint on India’s water infrastructure.
Pisciculture farms contain hazardous levels of metals like lead and a cadmium in the water
and are releasing their effluents d8irectly into nearby freshwater lakes and ponds. The
tremendous use of antibiotics and insecticides by the sector. The farms are located in Andhra
Pradesh, West Bengal, Pudducherry displayed a higher danger for public health Tamil Nadu,
Bihar and Odisha farms have been highly environmental damaging. The pisciculture farms
becomes a huge problem for water management because these farms are functioned only on
freshwaters so the farms are situated in lakes, ponds and canals due to which the source of
drinking freshwater will shrinks drastically and the water bodies. The construction nearby
water bodies creates water pollution. Throwing toxic waste from water bodies causes water
pollution, Common liquids like cement, paint and glue are some of the things that can be
found in the liquid waste construction sites. This types of inactions causes a heavy damages
on present water bodies. In Himalayas the source of drinking water is springs as the origin of
springs are groundwater from aquifers. Though Himalayan mountain do not have huge
aquifers, but there some rock systems that have porosity and permeability that can retain
water, which supplies freshwater for rural communities. These springs are also help for the
perennial flow of major rivers like Ganga and Brahmaputra. As the springs are started to
drying this will affect the perennial flow of Ganga and Brahmaputra rivers. Which means
preservation springs in Himalayas are important for the major rivers in India for its water
security.

Conclusion : The necessity of water management is a need of the hour for India as there
many problems such as poor infrastructure on water bodies, ignorance on ancient indian
water conservation methods becomes a big hit on India’s water management as ancient
peoples knows the importance of water and they managed a lot to conserve the water by
building dams, manmade lakes and ponds by Indian Kings such as Veeranam Lake,
Cuddalore, Tamil Nadu built by Rajaditya Chola are one of the perfect example of water
management in Indian History. We need to preserve the water bodies around us. Government
of India and its state governments are working for the rejuvenation of water bodies like
rivers, lakes, ponds, reservoirs, streams and springs. The Government of India has taken a
figure of initiatives for river development or rejuvenation. The work of development of River
Ganga and its tributaries is handled by Ministry of Jal Shakti. River development of River
Development and Ganga rejuvenation under National Mission for Clean Ganga. The
development of other rivers are undertaken by Ministry of Environment, Forest & Climate
Change under the National River Conservation Plan on cost sharing basis between Central
and State Governments. The rejuvenation of water bodies is also a component for water
management of Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation(AMRUT) scheme
under Ministry of Housing & Urban Affairs with a outlay targets to promote circular
economy of water through development of city focusing on recycle/reuse of treated sewage,
rejuvenation of water bodies and water conservation. Mahatma Gandhi National Rural
Employment Guarantee Scheme(MGNREGS) has provison for public works for relating to
natural resources management, water conservation and water harvesting structures to
augment and improve groundwater like dykes, earthen dams, stop dams, check dams and roof
top rain water harvesting structures in public buildings. Water being a state subject, it is for
the state governments concerned to start various programmes and schemes for revival and
recharge of ground water. However, in order to supplement the efforts of State Government,
Government of India has taken up a number of important measures for conservation,
management of groundwater , effective implementation of rain water harvesting including
enlarging the groundwater level in India,. The State governments doing their job at its best for
water management. The first census on nation-wide water bodies released by ministry of Jal
Shakti throws lights on ranking of states in various categories. In which Maharashtra ranked
first in terms water conservation schemes, West Bengal leads on highest numbers of ponds
and reservoirs. Andhra Pradesh has the highest number of water tanks and Tamil Nadu has
most numbers of the lakes. The schemes of state governments to rejuvenation of water bodies
such as Tamil Nadu Government’s Kudimarmathu scheme which helps for rejuvenation of
ponds. Indian Government formulated the New National Water Policy – 2012. Which
included the conservation of water bodies like rivers, lakes, ponds and reservoirs but
excluded the springs in Himalayas. Springs are largely ignored by the communities. There is
a urgent need to include springsheld management in all water management has gained some
recognition in plans and policies. The conservation of springs is important for drinking water
facilities in Himalayan states of India. All the water bodies are needed to protected from
human activities and Central and State Government should work on the awareness of water
conservation and ensure the awareness need to be reach every corner of the country.
Industries polluting water bodies should have stringent punishment and fine as a polluter pay.
Climate change is a another issue a currently addressing by India. Indian Government doing
its best to tackle the problem but much more steps needed to achieve the sustainable
development goals setteed by Paris Conference 2015. To tackle climate it needs a collective
work of the world is needed to have better future. Illegal land encroachment is a another
problem. According to Water User Association it have helped to huge way in preventing
encroachments of water bodies. Out of which 13,64,349 water bodies are not owned by
particular owners. Water User Association has formed in the case of 3.1 % water bodies. The
drinking water is turning into gold in summer times due to high temperature the demand of
water drastically increased this creates a acute water scarcity in cities. Due to this local
municipal corporation should work on awareness related to usage and storage of rainwater
during monsoon and pay incentive for the infrastructure needs. Water management practices
deals with problems of water distribution to meet the ever increasing demand, rather than
better management of existing resources. This gives increasing the necessity of water
management in India.

References : Moushami Das Gupta 2022 India's 1st water bodies census: 2.4 mn water
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report of first Census of Water bodies (Volume-1) | Department of Water Resources, River
Development and Ganga Rejuvenation | India (jalshakti-dowr.gov.in)

Chintu Das 2021 Non-Vegetarians Alert! Fish Farms across India Extremely Polluted and
Full of Waste (krishijagran.com)

World Bank Report 2019 Helping India Manage its Complex Water Resources
(worldbank.org)

K Shadananan Nair 2020 Climate change and water: Ripple marks (downtoearth.org.in)

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Gurvinder Singh Indian fish farmers refute damning report | The Fish Site
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Special Correspondent from The Hindu 2021 Study finds metal pollution in aquaculture
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