WATER RESOURCES

• 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.

• This freshwater is mainly obtained from surface run off and ground water that is continually
being renewed and recharged through the hydrological cycle.

• All water moves within the hydrological cycle ensuring that water is a renewable resource.

WATER SCARCITY AND THE NEED FOR WATER

CONSERVATION AND MANAGEMENT
• The moment we speak of water shortages, we immediately associate it with regions having
low rainfall or those that are drought prone.

• We visualise the deserts of Rajasthan and women balancing many ‘matkas’ used for
collecting and storing water and travelling long distances to get water.

• The availability of water resources varies over space and time, mainly due to the variations
in seasonal and annual precipitation, but water scarcity in most cases is caused by over-
exploitation, excessive use and unequal access to water among different social groups.

• Water scarcity is likely to occur where freshwater, though obtained directly from
precipitation, surface run off and groundwater, is being overused or distributed unequally.

• An area or region may have ample water resources but still face water scarcity.

• Water scarcity may be an outcome of large and growing population and consequent greater
demands for water, and unequal access to it.

• A large population requires more water not only for domestic use but also to produce more
food.

• To facilitate higher food-grain production, water resources are being over-exploited to

expand irrigated areas for dry-season agriculture.

• Irrigated agriculture is the largest consumer of water.

• It is needed to revolutionise agriculture through developing drought resistant crops and dry
farming techniques.

• Most farmers have their own wells and tube-wells in their farms for irrigation to increase
their produce.
• This may lead to falling groundwater levels, adversely affecting water availability and food
security of the people.

• Post-independent India witnessed intensive industrialisation and urbanisation, creating vast

opportunities.

• Large industrial houses are as commonplace as the industrial units of many MNCs.

• The ever-increasing number of industries has made matters worse by exerting pressure on
existing freshwater resources.

• Industries are heavy users of water and also require power to run, much of which comes
from hydroelectric power.

• Urban centres with large and dense populations and urban lifestyles have added to water
and energy requirements and further aggravated the problem.

• Housing societies or colonies in cities often have their own groundwater pumping devices
to meet their water needs.

• Fragile water resources are being overexploited and have caused their depletion in several
cities.

WATER QUANTITY VS WATER QUALITY

• Water may be sufficiently available to meet the needs of the people, but the area may still
suffer from water scarcity due to bad quality of water.

• There is growing concern that water may be polluted by domestic and industrial wastes,
chemicals, pesticides and fertilisers used in agriculture, making it hazardous for human use.

JAL JEEVAN MISSION (JJM)

• Government of India has accorded highest priority to improve the quality of life and
enhance ease of living of people, especially those in rural areas, by announcing the Jal Jeevan
Mission (JJM).

• The goal of JJM is to enable every rural household get assured supply of potable piped
water at a service level of 55 litres per capita per day regularly on long-term basis by
ensuring functionality of the tap water connections.
NEED FOR CONSERVATION AND MANAGEMENT
• The need of the hour is to conserve and manage our water resources to safeguard ourselves
from health hazards, to ensure food security, continuation of our livelihoods and productive
activities, and to prevent degradation of our natural ecosystems.

• Over exploitation and mismanagement of water resources will impoverish this resource and
cause ecological crisis that may have profound impact on our lives.

ATAL BHUJAL YOJANA (ATAL JAL)

• Atal Bhujal Yojana (Atal Jal) is being implemented in 8,220 water stressed Gram
Panchayats of 229 administrative blocks/talukas in 80 districts of seven states: Gujarat,
Haryana, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Rajasthan, and Uttar Pradesh.

• These selected states account for about 37 per cent of the total number of water-stressed
(over-exploited, critical and semi-critical) blocks in India.

• One of the key aspects of Atal Jal is to bring in behavioural changes in the community from
the prevailing attitude of consumption to conservation and smart water management.

Multi-Purpose River Projects and Integrated Water

Resources Management

Ancient Hydraulic Structures

• From ancient times, we have been 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.

• In the first century B.C., Sringaverapura near Allahabad had a sophisticated water
harvesting system channelling the flood water of the river Ganga.

• During the time of Chandragupta Maurya, dams, lakes and irrigation systems were
extensively built.

• Evidences of sophisticated irrigation works have been found in Kalinga (Odisha),

Nagarjunakonda (Andhra Pradesh), Bennur (Karnataka), and Kolhapur (Maharashtra).
• In the 11th Century, Bhopal Lake, one of the largest artificial lakes of its time, was built.

• In the 14th Century, the tank in Hauz Khas, Delhi, was constructed by Iltutmish for
supplying water to Siri Fort area.

Purpose and Role of Dams

• Dams were traditionally built to impound rivers and rainwater that could be used later to
irrigate agricultural fields.

• Today, dams are built for irrigation, electricity generation, water supply for domestic and
industrial uses, flood control, recreation, inland navigation and fish breeding.

• Dams are referred to as multi-purpose projects where the uses of the impounded water are
integrated with one another.

• In the Sutluj-Beas river basin, the Bhakra–Nangal project water is used both for hydel
power production and irrigation.

• The Hirakud project in the Mahanadi basin integrates conservation of water with flood
control.

Developmental Role and Nehru’s Vision

• Multi-purpose projects launched after Independence with their integrated water resources
management approach were seen as vehicles for development and progress.

• Jawaharlal Nehru proclaimed the dams as the ‘temples of modern India’ to integrate
development of agriculture and the village economy with industrialisation and urban growth.

Criticism and Environmental Impact

• In recent years, multi-purpose projects and large dams have come under scrutiny and
opposition.

• Regulating and damming rivers affect their natural flow, causing poor sediment flow and
excessive sedimentation at the bottom of reservoirs, resulting in rockier stream beds and
poorer habitats for aquatic life.

• Dams fragment rivers and make it difficult for aquatic fauna to migrate, especially for
spawning.
• Reservoirs on floodplains submerge vegetation and soil, leading to decomposition over
time.

• Dams constructed to control floods have triggered floods due to sedimentation in the
reservoir and have mostly been unsuccessful during excessive rainfall.

• These floods have devastated life and property and caused extensive soil erosion.

• Sedimentation deprives flood plains of silt, a natural fertiliser, contributing to land

degradation.

• Multi-purpose projects have induced earthquakes, caused water-borne diseases and pests,
and pollution from excessive water use.

• Irrigation has changed cropping patterns in many regions, leading to a shift to water-
intensive and commercial crops with ecological consequences like salinisation of soil.

Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchayee Yojana

• Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchayee Yojana ensures access to some means of protective
irrigation for all agricultural farms in the country.

• Objectives include enhancing access of water on the farm, expanding cultivable area under
assured irrigation (har khet ko pani), improving on-farm water use efficiency to reduce
wastage, introducing irrigation and other water-saving technologies (per drop more crop), and
promoting sustainable water conservation practices.

What is a Dam?

• 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.

• Most dams have a section called a spillway or weir over which or through which water
flows either intermittently or continuously.

• Dams are classified according to structure, intended purpose or height.

• Based on structure and materials, dams are classified as timber dams, embankment dams or
masonry dams, with subtypes.

• According to height, dams are categorised as large dams, major dams, low dams, medium-
height dams and high dams.
Sardar Sarovar Dam

• Sardar Sarovar Dam is built over the Narmada River in Gujarat and is one of India’s largest
water resource projects, covering Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat and Rajasthan.

• It will provide irrigation to 18.45 lakh hectares in 3112 villages across 15 districts of
Gujarat.

• It will irrigate 2,46,000 hectares in Barmer and Jalore in Rajasthan and 37,500 hectares in
the tribal hilly tracts of Maharashtra through lift.

• About 75% of the command area in Gujarat and the entire command in Rajasthan is drought
prone.

• Assured water supply will make this area drought proof.

Krishna-Godavari Dispute

• The Krishna-Godavari dispute is due to objections by Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh

against the diversion of more water at Koyna by Maharashtra for a multipurpose project.

• This diversion would reduce downstream flow, affecting agriculture and industry in the
other states.

Rainwater Harvesting

1. Rainwater Harvesting as an Alternative

 Many thought that given the disadvantages and rising resistance against the
multipurpose projects, water harvesting system was a viable alternative, both socio-
economically and environmentally.

2. Historical Water-Harvesting Practices in India

 In ancient India, along with the sophisticated hydraulic structures, there existed an
extraordinary tradition of water-harvesting system.
 People had in-depth knowledge of rainfall regimes and soil types and developed wide
ranging techniques to harvest rainwater, groundwater, river water and flood water in
keeping with the local ecological conditions and their water needs.
3. Regional Techniques of Rainwater Harvesting

 In hill and mountainous regions, people built diversion channels like the ‘guls’ or
‘kuls’ of the Western Himalayas for agriculture.
 ‘Rooftop rainwater harvesting’ was commonly practised to store drinking water,
particularly in Rajasthan.
 In the flood plains of Bengal, people developed inundation channels to irrigate their
fields.
 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 like the ‘khadins’ in
Jaisalmer and ‘Johads’ in other parts of Rajasthan.

4. Traditional Tankas in Rajasthan

 In the semi-arid and arid regions of Rajasthan, particularly in Bikaner, Phalodi and
Barmer, almost all the houses traditionally had underground tanks or tankas for
storing drinking water.
 The tanks could be as large as a big room; one household in Phalodi had a tank that
was 6.1 metres deep, 4.27 metres long and 2.44 metres wide.
 The tankas were part of the well-developed rooftop rainwater harvesting system and
were built inside the main house or the courtyard.
 They were connected to the sloping roofs of the houses through a pipe.
 Rain falling on the rooftops would travel down the pipe and was stored in these
underground ‘tankas’.
 The first spell of rain was usually not collected as this would clean the roofs and the
pipes.
 The rainwater from the subsequent showers was then collected.
 The rainwater can be stored in the tankas till the next rainfall making it an extremely
reliable source of drinking water when all other sources are dried up, particularly in
the summers.
 Rainwater, or palar pani, as commonly referred to in these parts, is considered the
purest form of natural water.
 Many houses constructed underground rooms adjoining the ‘tanka’ to beat the
summer heat as it would keep the room cool.

5. Decline in Traditional Practices

 Today, in western Rajasthan, sadly the practice of rooftop rainwater harvesting is on

the decline as plenty of water is available due to the perennial Indira Gandhi Canal,
though some houses still maintain the tankas since they do not like the taste of tap
water.
6. Modern Adaptation and Success Stories

 Fortunately, in many parts of rural and urban India, rooftop rainwater harvesting is
being successfully adapted to store and conserve water.

7. Gendathur, Karnataka – A Case Study

 In Gendathur, a remote backward village in Mysuru, Karnataka, villagers have

installed, in their household’s rooftop, rainwater harvesting system to meet their water
needs.
 Nearly 200 households have installed this system and the village has earned the rare
distinction of being rich in rainwater.
 Gendathur receives an annual precipitation of 1,000 mm, and with 80 per cent of
collection efficiency and of about 10 fillings, every house can collect and use about
50,000 litres of water annually.
 From the 200 houses, the net amount of rainwater harvested annually amounts to
1,00,000 litres.

8. Shillong, Meghalaya – High Rainfall Yet Water Scarcity

 Rooftop rainwater harvesting is the most common practice in Shillong, Meghalaya.

 It is interesting because Cherapunjee and Mawsynram situated at a distance of 55 km.
from Shillong receive the highest rainfall in the world, yet the state capital Shillong
faces acute shortage of water.
 Nearly every household in the city has a rooftop rainwater harvesting structure.
 Nearly 15-25 per cent of the total water requirement of the household comes from
rooftop water harvesting.

9. Government Policy – Tamil Nadu

 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.