Geography Ch-3

Water Resources
WATER FACTS
1) Though three-fourth of the earth’s surface is covered with water, only a small proportion of it accounts
for freshwater that can be put to use.
2) Freshwater is mainly obtained from surface run off and ground water that is continually being renewed
and recharged through the hydrological cycle thus ensuring that water is a renewable resource.
3) Though three-fourth of the world is covered with water and water is a renewable resource, still there
are countries and regions around the globe that suffer from water scarcity.
4) It predicted that by 2025, nearly two billion people will live in absolute water scarcity.

WATER SCARCITY AND THE NEED FOR WATER CONSERVATION AND MANAGEMENT
WATER SCARCITY
1) Water being abundantly a renewable resource and being abundantly found, it is difficult to imagine that
we may suffer from water scarcity.
2) We associate water scarcity with regions having low rainfall or those that are drought prone.
3) The availability of water resources varies over space and time, due to the variations in seasonal and
annual precipitation.
4) But water scarcity is caused by over-exploitation, excessive use and unequal access to water among
different social groups.

WHERE IS WATER SCARCITY LIKELY TO OCCUR? IS IT POSSIBLE THAT AN AREA OR REGION MAY HAVE
AMPLE WATER RESOURCES BUT IS STILL FACING WATER SCARCITY?
1) Water scarcity may be an outcome of large and growing population and consequent greater demands
for water, and unequal access to it.
2) A large population requires more water not only for domestic use but also to produce more food.
3) To facilitate higher food-grain production, water resources are being over-exploited to expand irrigated
areas for dry-season agriculture.
4) Irrigated agriculture is the largest consumer of water.
5) Most farmers have their own wells and tube-wells in their farms for irrigation to increase their produce.
which may lead to falling groundwater levels, adversely affecting water availability and food security of the
people.
6) Post-independent India witnessed intensive industrialisation and urbanisation,
7) Today, large industrial houses are as commonplace as the industrial units of many MNCs (Multinational
Corporations).
8) The ever-increasing number of industries are exerting pressure on existing freshwater resources.
9) Industries, apart from being heavy users of water, also require power to run them.
10) Much of this energy comes from hydroelectric power which contributes approximately 22 per cent of
the total electricity produced.
11) Multiplying urban centres with large and dense populations and urban lifestyles have increased water
and energy requirements and have aggravated the problem.
12) Fragile water resources are being over-exploited and have caused their depletion in several of these
cities.
13) All this was the quantitative aspects of water scarcity.
14) There are areas where water is sufficiently available to meet the needs of the people, but, the area still
suffers from water scarcity. This scarcity may be due to bad quality of water.
15) Much of the water may be polluted by domestic and industrial wastes, chemicals, pesticides and
fertilisers used in agriculture, thus, making it hazardous for human use.
16) Over exploitation and mismanagement of water resources will impoverish this resource and cause
ecological crisis.
17) It is very important to conserve and manage our water resources so that we can:
a) safeguard ourselves from health hazards
b) ensure food security
c) continuation of our livelihoods and productive activities
d) prevent degradation of our natural ecosystems.

JAL JEEVAN MISSION (JJM)

1) Government of India has given highest priority to improve the quality of life and enhance ease of living
of people especially those living in rural areas by announcing the Jal Jeevan Mission (JJM).
2) 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.

MULTI -PURPOSE RIVER PROJECTS

1) From ancient times we have been constructing sophisticated hydraulic structures like dams built of
stone rubble, reservoirs or lakes, embankments and canals for irrigation.
2) Dams were traditionally built to impound rivers and rainwater that could be used later to irrigate
agricultural fields.
3) Today dams are called multi-purpose river projects as they are built not just for irrigation but for
electricity generation, water supply for domestic and industrial uses, flood control, recreation, inland
navigation and fish breeding.
4) Eg. In the Sutluj-Beas river basin, the Bhakra – Nangal project water is being used both for hydel power
production and irrigation.
The Hirakud project in the Mahanadi basin integrates conservation of water with flood control.

Why did Jawaharlal Nehru proudly proclaim the dams as the ‘temples of modern India’?
1) Because he felt that it would integrate development of agriculture and the village economy with rapid
industrialisation and growth of the urban economy.
2) They would lead the nation to development and progress, overcoming the handicap of its colonial past.

CRITICISM/CONSEQUENCES/OBJECTIONS/ DISADVANTAGES OF MULTI-PURPOSE PROJECTS

1) Regulating and damming of rivers affect their natural flow causing poor sediment flow and excessive
sedimentation at the bottom of the reservoir, resulting in rockier stream beds and poorer habitats for the
rivers’ aquatic life.
2) Dams fragment rivers making it difficult for aquatic fauna to migrate, especially for spawning.
3) The reservoirs that are created on the floodplains also submerge the existing vegetation and soil leading
to its decomposition over a period of time.
4) Multi-purpose projects and large dams have led to environmental movements like the ‘Narmada Bachao
Andolan’ and the ‘Tehri Dam Andolan’ etc.
5) It also leads to the large-scale displacement of local communities who have to give up their land,
livelihood and their meagre access and control over resources for the greater good of the nation.
6) Irrigation has also changed the cropping pattern of many regions.
7) Farmers have shifted to water intensive and commercial crops leading to salinisation of the soil.
8) It has transformed the social landscape by increasing the social gap between the richer landowners and
the landless poor.
9) It has also led to conflicts between people wanting different uses and benefits from the same water
resources.
Eg. In Gujarat, the Sabarmati-basin farmers were agitated and almost caused a riot over the higher priority
given to water supply in urban areas, particularly during droughts.
10) Inter-state water disputes regarding sharing the costs and benefits of the multi-purpose project are
common.
11) The big dams have mostly been unsuccessful in controlling floods at the time of excessive rainfall.
12) They have triggered floods due to sedimentation in the reservoir.
13) The release of water from dams during heavy rains aggravate the flood situation.
14) The floods cause extensive soil erosion as well as sedimentation depriving the flood plains of silt, a
natural fertiliser, further adding on to the problem of land degradation.
15) The multi-purpose projects have induced earthquakes, caused water-borne diseases and pests and
pollution resulting from excessive use of water.

RAINWATER HARVESTING
1) Considering the disadvantages of the multipurpose projects, water harvesting system was a viable
alternative, both socio-economically and environmentally.
2) In ancient India, there existed an extraordinary tradition of water-harvesting system.
3) 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.
4) In hill and mountainous regions, people built diversion channels like the ‘guls’ or ‘kuls’ of the Western
Himalayas for agriculture.
5) ‘Rooftop rainwater harvesting’ was commonly practised to store drinking water, particularly in
Rajasthan.
6) In the flood plains of Bengal, people developed inundation channels to irrigate their fields.
7) 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.
8) 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.
9)( The tankas were part of the well-developed rooftop rainwater harvesting system and were built
inside the main house or the courtyard and connected to the sloping roofs of the houses through a pipe.
10) Rain falling on the rooftops would travel down the pipe and was stored in these underground
‘tankas’. 11) The rainwater can be stored in the tankas till the next rainfall making it an extremely
reliable source of drinking water.
12) Rainwater, or palar pani, is considered the purest form of natural water.)
13) The practice of rooftop rainwater harvesting is on the decline today, in western Rajasthan, as plenty of
water is available due to the perennial Indira Gandhi Canal.
14) In many parts of rural and urban India, rooftop rainwater harvesting is being successfully adapted to
store and conserve water.
Eg. 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.

BAMBOO DRIP IRRIGATION SYSTEM

1) In Meghalaya, a 200-year-old system of tapping stream and spring water by using bamboo pipes, is
prevalent.
2)About 18-20 litres of water enters the bamboo pipe system, gets transported over hundreds of metres,
and finally reduces to 20-80 drops per minute at the site of the plant.

TAMIL NADU FACT

1) Tamil Nadu is the first state in India which has made rooftop rainwater harvesting structure compulsory
to all the houses across the state.
2) There are legal provisions to punish the defaulters.
MEGHALAYA FACT
1) Rooftop rainwater harvesting is the most common practice in Shillong, Meghalaya.
2) Shillong faces acute shortage of water though Cherapunjee and Mawsynram situated at a distance of 55
km. from Shillong receive the highest rainfall in the world.
3) Nearly every household in the city has a rooftop rainwater harvesting structure and 15-25 per cent of
the total water requirement of the household comes from rooftop water harvesting.

A NOTE ON KRISHNA-GODAVARI DISPUTE

1) This dispute is due to the objections raised by Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh governments, regarding
the diversion of more water at Koyna by the Maharashtra government for a multipurpose project.
2) This would reduce downstream flow in their states with adverse consequences for agriculture and
industry.

A NOTE ON NARMADA BACHAO ANDOLAN

1) Narmada Bachao Andolan or Save Narmada Movement is a Non Governmental Organisation (NGO) that
mobilised tribal people, farmers, environmentalists and human rights activists against the Sardar Sarovar
Dam being built across the Narmada river in Gujarat.
2) It started with focus on the environmental issues related to trees that would be submerged under the
dam water.
3) Recently it has re-focused the aim to enable poor citizens, especially the oustees (displaced people) to
get full rehabilitation facilities from the government.
4) People accepted their sufferings as sacrifice for the sake of their nation. But even after thirty bitter years
of being adrift, their livelihood have become more precarious.

SARDAR SAROVAR DAM

1) It has been built over the Narmada River in Gujarat.
2) This is one of the largest water resource projects of India covering four states—Maharashtra, Madhya
Pradesh, Gujarat and Rajasthan.
3) The Sardar Sarovar project would meet the requirement of water in drought-prone and desert areas.
4) It would provide irrigation facilities to villages in Gujarat and Rajasthan, and tribal hilly tracts of
Maharashtra.

ATAL BHUJALYOJANA (ATAL JAL)

1) This project is being implemented in 8220 water stressed Gram Panchayats of seven states- Gujarat,
Haryana, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Rajasthan, and Uttar Pradesh.
2) These states account for about 37 per cent of the total number of water— stressed (over-exploited,
critical and semi-critical) blocks in India.
3) 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.

WHAT IS A DAM?
1) A dam is a barrier across flowing water that obstructs, directs or retards the flow, often creating a
reservoir, lake or impoundment.
2) “Dam” refers to the reservoir rather than the structure.

WHAT IS SPILLWAY/WEIR?
1) A spillway or weir is a section in dams over which or through which it is intended that water will flow
either intermittently or continuously.
CLASSIFICATION OF DAMS
1) Dams are classified according to structure, intended purpose or height.
2) Based on structure and the materials used, dams are classified as timber dams, embankment dams or
masonry dams, with several subtypes.
3) According to the height, dams can be categorised as large dams and major dams or alternatively as low
dams, medium height dams and high dams.

HYDRAULIC STRUCTURES IN ANCIENT INDIA

1) In the first century B.C., Sringaverapura near Allahabad had sophisticated water harvesting system
channelling the flood water of the river Ganga.
2) During the time of Chandragupta Maurya, dams, lakes and irrigation systems were extensively built.
3) Evidences of sophisticated irrigation works have also been found in Kalinga, (Odisha), Nagarjunakonda
(Andhra Pradesh), Bennur (Karnataka), Kolhapur (Maharashtra), etc.
4) In the 11th Century, Bhopal Lake, one of the largest artificial lakes of its time was built.
5) In the 14th Century, the tank in Hauz Khas, Delhi was constructed by Iltutmish for supplying water to Siri
Fort area.

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