Need to Protect Available Water Resources in India

The factors mentioned below necessitate us to protect water resources and promote their judicious use:

(a) Increasing demand:

By 2020, the global population is expected to cross 7.9 billion and half of world’s population will live in countries facing water scarcity. As per the estimates of Central Ground Water Board, 15 states in India may face severe shortage of groundwater if we continue to exploit it indiscriminately.

Nowadays it is hard to find fresh water due to pollution and ever increasing population from the domestic consumption, industrial use and irrigation thus there is a tussle among the three.

In India, only 17.8 m.ha.m and 40 m.ha.m of rainfall and snow, respectively is properly trapped by the soil due to inherent topographical problems. India’s water consumption is around 20.1 per cent of the world consumption with a per capita consumption of 297.7 cubic meters, which is more than the world average of 287.3 cubic meters. The population of India is expected to stabilize around 1640 million by 2050. As a result, gross per capita availability of water will decline from 1820 m³ per annum in the year 2001, to as low as 1140 m³ in 2050.

The country’s projected water demand for various activities is given in Table 4.7. The water demand for agricultural irrigation depends upon the requirements of food grains as well as non-food grains.

The widening gap between water demand and supply, mismanagement of precious water resources and degradation of water quality are some of the factors that necessitate us to go for efficient use of available water resources.

(b) Falling water tables:

According to state groundwater board officials, water tables are dropping by 6 m or more each year. It was learnt that farmers in the country, a generation ago, used bullocks to lift water from shallow wells in leather buckets. But now, they have to draw water from 300 metres below ground using electric pumps.

The pumps powered by heavily subsidized electricity are working day and night to irrigate fields of more water consuming crops like rice, sugarcane and banana. This massive unregulated expansion of pumps and wells is threatening to suck India dry. Hence, managing water resources should attract due attention.

(c) Weather abnormalities:

The vagaries of monsoon like late onset, early withdrawal, prolonged dry spells and failure of monsoon with little showers creating drought and water logging conditions. The distribution of rainfall over different regions varies with highest rainfall in Mawsynaram and least in Western Rajasthan.

Due to improper management of water resources, people of Mawsynaram and Cheerapunji also experience water scarcity. Over the years, water abundant regions have become water scarce and water scarce areas face water famines.

(d) High dependence on rainfed agriculture:

Rainfed areas occupy 67.5 per cent of the cultivated area, contributing 44 per cent of the food grains and support 40 per cent of the population and two-thirds of livestock. In the past decades, the rate of growth of food production has more or less kept pace with the population growth mainly due to the productivity gains from irrigated areas.

Even after realizing the complete irrigation potential of the country, half of the cultivated area will continue to remain rain dependent. In the event of plateauing of productivity in irrigated areas, it is inevitable that next revolution should come from rainfed areas. Currently, the productivity gains from rainfed areas are only 0.7-0.8 t/ha against 2 t/ha from irrigated areas.

That means there is a large scope to improve the productivity levels in rainfed areas provided natural resources (water and land) are properly managed and conserved with the application of innovative technologies.

(e) Pollution of water bodies: Almost all the water bodies throughout the country including rivers, canals, wetlands and tanks are severely polluted due to release of sewage and sludge, and waste products from industrial units.

Thus water is becoming unfit for consumption and irrigation. In some of the dry areas in Rajasthan and Andhra Pradesh (Anathapur, Nalgonda and Khammam), flourosis due to high concentration of fluoride in water is rampant. About 60 per cent of area of Western Rajasthan has chlorides higher than 1000 ppm and also the problem of arsenic and selenium in groundwater.