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Water

The document discusses water resources and management in India. It notes that while three-fourths of the Earth's surface is covered in water, only a small portion is freshwater that can be used. It then provides statistics on water availability and scarcity in India. The document also discusses various water management techniques used in India like dams, rainwater harvesting, and traditional hydraulic structures.

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Renuka Visveswari
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14 views

Water

The document discusses water resources and management in India. It notes that while three-fourths of the Earth's surface is covered in water, only a small portion is freshwater that can be used. It then provides statistics on water availability and scarcity in India. The document also discusses various water management techniques used in India like dams, rainwater harvesting, and traditional hydraulic structures.

Uploaded by

Renuka Visveswari
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Water

Three-fourth of the earth’s surface is covered with water but only a small proportion of it accounts for
-freshwater that can be put to use. Water is a renewable resource.

 Out of total volume of water on earth; 97.5% exists in oceans and seas.
 About 2.5% of total water is available as freshwater.
 70% of total freshwater is present as frozen ice in icebergs and glaciers.
 A little less than 30% of total freshwater is stored as groundwater.
 India receives about 4% of global precipitation.
 India ranks 133rd in the world in terms of water availability per person per annum.
 The total renewable water resources in India are estimated at 1,897 sq km per
annum.

Water Scarcity:

 The availability of water resources varies over space and time


Overexploitation of water, excessive use and unequal access to water among
different social groups are the main causes of water scarcity.
 More Demand: A large population needs ever more water for various purposes.
While demand has been increasing, the process of natural recharge of
groundwater has suffered because of several reasons.
 Reduced Recharge of Groundwater: Activities such as large scale deforestation,
Construction of concrete buildings, factories and roads has also made the ground
less impervious to rainwater. This has almost totally stopped the percolation of
rainwater to recharge groundwater.
 Contamination: Excess use of chemical fertilisers and insecticides has
contaminated groundwater to the extent that the water has become unfit for
human consumption.
 Sewage and effluents are being discharged into rivers and ponds; without being
treated. This has turned most of the rivers into filthy drains.

Water Resource Management

In ancient times, we used to conserve water by constructing sophisticated hydraulic structures like
dams built of stone rubble, reservoirs or lakes, embankments and canals for irrigation. We have
continued this tradition in modern India by building dams in most of our river basins.

Dams
A dam is a barrier across flowing water that obstructs, directs or retards the flow, often creating a
reservoir, lake or impoundment. “Dam” refers to the reservoir rather than the structure.
Uses of Dam:
Dams are built:

 To impound rivers and rainwater that can be used later to irrigate agricultural fields.
 For electricity generation.
 Water supply for domestic and industrial uses.
 Flood control.
 Recreation, inland navigation and fish breeding.
Side effects of Creating Dams

 Regulating and damming of rivers affect their natural flow.


 Poorer the habitats for the rivers’ aquatic life.
 Fragment rivers make it difficult for aquatic fauna to migrate.
 Dams created on the floodplains submerge the existing vegetation and soil leading to its
decomposition over a period of time.
 Creating of large dams has been the cause of many new environmental movements like the
‘Narmada Bachao Andolan’ and the ‘Tehri Dam Andolan’ etc.
 Many times local people had to give up their land, livelihood and their control over resources
for the construction of the dam.

Rain Water Harvesting


Most of the rainwater just flows off without percolating down the ground. This can be
prevented by using rainwater harvesting.

Rainwater harvesting is a simple method by which rainfall is collected for future usage. The collected
rainwater may be stored, utilised in different ways or directly used for recharge purposes.

Different methods have been adopted in different areas for Rain Water Harvesting.

1. In hill and mountainous regions, people built diversion channels like the ‘guls’ or ‘kuls’ of the
Western Himalayas for agriculture.
2. “Rooftop rainwater harvesting” is commonly practised to store drinking water, particularly
in Rajasthan.
3. In the flood plains of Bengal, people developed inundation channels to irrigate their fields.
4. In arid and semi-arid regions, agricultural fields were converted into rain-fed storage
structures that allowed the water to stand and moisten the soil such as ‘khadins’ in Jaisalmer
and ‘Johads’ in other parts of Rajasthan.
5. The tankas are part of the well-developed rooftop rainwater harvesting system and are built
inside the main house or the courtyard. This is mainly practised in Rajasthan, particularly in
Bikaner, Phalodi and Barmer areas for saving the rainwater. Many houses constructed
underground rooms adjoining the ‘tanka’ to beat the summer heat as it would keep the room
cool.

Tamil Nadu is the first state in India which has made rooftop rainwater harvesting structure
compulsory to all the houses across the state. There are legal provisions to punish the defaulters.

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