You already know that three-fourth of theearth’s surface is covered with water, but onlya small proportion of it accounts for freshwaterthat can be put to use. This freshwater is mainlyobtained from surface run off and ground waterthat is continually being renewed andrecharged through the hydrological cycle. Allwater moves within the hydrological cycleensuring that water is a renewable resource.

You might wonder that if three-fourth ofthe world is covered with water and water is arenewable resource, then how is it thatcountries and regions around the globe sufferfrom water scarcity? Why is it predicted thatby 2025, nearly two billion people will live inabsolute water scarcity?

Water: Some facts and figures• 96.5 per cent of the total volume of world’s

water is estimated to exist as oceans andonly 2.5 per cent as freshwater. Nearly70 per cent of this freshwater occurs asice sheets and glaciers in Antarctica,Greenland and the mountainous regionsof the world, while a little less than 30per cent is stored as groundwater in theworld’s aquifers.

• India receives nearly 4 per cent of theglobal precipitation and ranks 133 in theworld in terms of water availability perperson per annum.

• The total renewable water resources of Indiaare estimated at 1,897 sq km per annum.

24 CONTEMPORARY INDIA – II

associate it with regions having low rainfallor those that are drought prone. Weinstantaneously visualise the deserts ofRajasthan and women balancing many‘matkas’ (earthen pots) used for collecting andstoring water and travelling long distances toget water. True, the availability of waterresources varies over space and time, mainlydue to the variations in seasonal and annualprecipitation, but water scarcity in most casesis caused by over- exploitation, excessive useand unequal access to water among differentsocial groups.

Fig. 3.1: Water Scarcity

• By 2025, it is predicted that large parts ofIndia will join countries or regions havingabsolute water scarcity.

Source: The UN World Water DevelopmentReport, 2003

WATER SCARCITY AND THE NEED FOR WATER

CONSERVATION AND MANAGEMENT

Given the abundance and renewability ofwater, it is difficult to imagine that we maysuffer from water scarcity. The moment wespeak of water shortages, we immediately

Water, Water Everywhere, Not a Drop to Drink:After a heavy downpour, a boy collects drinkingwater in Kolkata. Life in the city and its adjacentdistricts was paralysed as incessant overnight rain,meaning a record 180 mm, flooded vast area anddisruted traffic.

A Kashmiri earthquake survivor carries water inthe snow in a devastated village.

25WATER RESOURCES

requirements but have further aggravated theproblem. If you look into the housingsocieties or colonies in the cities, you wouldfind that most of these have their owngroundwater pumping devices to meet theirwater needs. Not surprisingly, we find thatfragile water resources are being over-exploited and have caused their depletion inseveral of these cities.

So far we have focused on the quantitativeaspects of water scarcity. Now, let us consideranother situation where water is sufficientlyavailable to meet the needs of the people,but, the area still suffers from water scarcity.This scarcity may be due to bad quality ofwater. Lately, there has been a growingconcern that even if there is ample water tomeet the needs of the people, much of it maybe polluted by domestic and industrialwastes, chemicals, pesticides and fertilisersused in agriculture, thus, making ithazardous for human use.

Where is then water scarcity likely tooccur? As you have read in the hydrologicalcycle, freshwater can be obtained directlyfrom precipitation, surface run off andgroundwater.

Is it possible that an area or region mayhave ample water resources but is still facingwater scarcity? Many of our cities are suchexamples. Thus, water scarcity may be anoutcome of large and growing population andconsequent greater demands for water, andunequal access to it. A large population meansmore water not only for domestic use but alsoto produce more food. Hence, to facilitatehigher food-grain production, water resourcesare being over-exploited to expand irrigatedareas and dry-season agriculture. You mayhave seen in many television advertisementsthat most farmers have their own wells andtube-wells in their farms for irrigation toincrease their produce. But have you everwondered what this could result in? That itmay lead to falling groundwater levels,adversely affecting water availability and foodsecurity of the people.

Post-independent India witnessedintensive industrialisation and urbanisation,creating vast opportunities for us. Today,large industrial houses are as commonplaceas the industrial units of many MNCs(Multinational Corporations). The ever-increasing number of industries has madematters worse by exerting pressure onexisting freshwater resources. Industries,apart from being heavy users of water, alsorequire power to run them. Much of thisenergy comes from hydroelectric power.Today, in India hydroeclectric powercontributes approximately 22 per cent of thetotal electricity produced. Moreover,multiplying urban centres with large anddense populations and urban lifestyles havenot only added to water and energy

According to Falken Mark, a Swedish expert,water stress occurs when water availabilityis less than 1,000 cubic metre per personper day.

India’s rivers, especially the smaller ones,have all turned into toxic streams. And eventhe big ones like the Ganga and Yamunaare far from being pure. The assault onIndia’s rivers – from population growth,agricultural modernisation, urbanisation andindustrialisation – is enormous and growingby the day….. This entire life standsthreatened.Source: The Citizens’ Fifth Report, CSE, 1999.

You may have already realised that theneed of the hour is to conserve and manageour water resources, to safeguard ourselvesfrom health hazards, to ensure food security,continuation of our l ivelihoods andproductive activities and also to preventdegradation of our natural ecosystems. Overexploitation and mismanagement of waterresources will impoverish this resource andcause ecological crisis that may haveprofound impact on our lives.

From your everyday experiences, write a shortproposal on how you can conserve water.

26 CONTEMPORARY INDIA – II

MULTI-PURPOSE RIVER PROJECTS AND

INTEGRATED WATER RESOURCES MANAGEMENT

But, how do we conserve and manage water?Archaeological and historical records show thatfrom ancient times we have been constructingsophisticated hydraulic structures like damsbuilt of stone rubble, reservoirs or lakes,embankments and canals for irrigation. Notsurprisingly, we have continued this traditionin modern India by building dams in most ofour river basins.

What are dams and how do they help usin conserving and managing water? Damswere traditionally built to impound rivers andrainwater that could be used later to irrigateagricultural fields. Today, dams are built notjust for irrigation but for electricity generation,water supply for domestic and industrialuses, flood control, recreation, inlandnavigation and fish breeding. Hence, dams arenow referred to as multi-purpose projectswhere the many uses of the impounded waterare integrated with one another. For example,in the Sutluj-Beas river basin, the Bhakra –Nangal project water is being used both forhydel power production and irrigation.Similarly, the Hirakud project in theMahanadi basin integrates conservation ofwater with flood control.

Hydraulic Structures in Ancient India• In the first century B.C., Sringaverapura

near Allahabad had sophisticated waterharvesting system channelling the floodwater of the river Ganga.

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

• Evidences of sophisticated irrigation workshave also been found in Kalinga, (Orissa),Nagarjunakonda (Andhra Pradesh),Bennur (Karnataka), Kolhapur(Maharashtra), etc.

• In the 11th Century, Bhopal Lake, one of thelargest artificial lakes of its time was built.

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

Source: Dying Wisdom, CSE, 1997.

Fig. 3.2: Hirakud Dam

A dam is a barrier across flowing water thatobstructs, directs or retards the flow, oftencreating a reservoir, lake or impoundment.“Dam” refers to the reservoir rather than thestructure. Most dams have a section called aspillway or weir over which or through whichit is intended that water will flow eitherintermittently or continuously. Dams areclassified according to structure, intendedpurpose or height. Based on structure andthe materials used, dams are classified astimber dams, embankment dams or masonrydams, with several subtypes. According tothe height, dams can be categorised as largedams and major dams or alternatively as lowdams, medium height dams and high dams.

Multi-purpose projects, launched afterIndependence with their integrated waterresources management approach, werethought of as the vehicle that would lead thenation to development and progress,overcoming the handicap of its colonial past.Jawaharlal Nehru proudly proclaimed thedams as the ‘temples of modern India’; thereason being that it would integratedevelopment of agriculture and the villageeconomy with rapid industrialisation andgrowth of the urban economy.

27WATER RESOURCES

In recent years, multi-purpose projects andlarge dams have come under great scrutinyand opposition for a variety of reasons.Regulating and damming of rivers affect theirnatural flow causing poor sediment flow andexcessive sedimentation at the bottom of thereservoir, resulting in rockier stream beds andpoorer habitats for the rivers’ aquatic life. Damsalso fragment rivers making it difficult foraquatic fauna to migrate, especially forspawning. The reservoirs that are created onthe floodplains also submerge the existingvegetation and soil leading to its decompositionover a period of time.

Multi-purpose projects and large damshave also been the cause of many new socialmovements like the ‘Narmada Bachao Andolan’and the ‘Tehri Dam Andolan’ etc. Resistanceto these projects has primarily been due to thelarge-scale displacement of local communities.Local people often had to give up their land,livelihood and their meagre access and controlover resources for the greater good of thenation. So, if the local people are not benefitingfrom such projects then who is benefited?Perhaps, the landowners and large farmers,industrialists and few urban centres. Take thecase of the landless in a village – does he reallygain from such a project?

Irrigation has also changed the croppingpattern of many regions with farmers shiftingto water intensive and commercial crops. Thishas great ecological consequences likesalinisation of the soil. At the same time, it hastransformed the social landscape i.e.increasing the social gap between the richerlandowners and the landless poor. As we cansee, the dams did create conflicts betweenpeople wanting different uses and benefits fromthe same water resources. In Gujarat, theSabarmati-basin farmers were agitated andalmost caused a riot over the higher prioritygiven to water supply in urban areas,particularly during droughts. Inter-state waterdisputes are also becoming common withregard to sharing the costs and benefits of themulti-purpose project.

Find out more about any one traditionalmethod of building dams and irrigation works.

We have sown the crops in AsarWe will bring Bhadu in BhadraFloods have swollen the DamodarThe sailing boats cannot sailOh! Damodar, we fall at your feetReduce the floods a littleBhadu will come a year laterLet the boats sail on your surface(This popular Bhadu song in the Damodar valleyregion narrates the troubles faced by peopleowing to the flooding of Damodar river knownas the river of sorrow.)

Narmada Bachao Andolan or SaveNarmada Movement is a NonGovernmental Organisation (NGO) thatmobil ised tr ibal people, farmers,environmentalists and human rightsactivists against the Sardar Sarovar Dambeing built across the Narmada river inGujarat. It originally focused on theenvironmental issues related to trees thatwould be submerged under the damwater. Recently it has re-focused theaim to enable poor citizens, especiallythe oustees (displaced people) to getfull rehabil i tation faci l i t ies fromthe government.

People felt that their suffering would notbe in vain… accepted the trauma ofdisplacement believing in the promise ofirrigated fields and plentiful harvests. So,often the survivors of Rihand told us that theyaccepted their sufferings as sacrifice for thesake of their nation. But now, after thirty bitteryears of being adrift, their livelihood havingeven being more precarious, they keepasking: “Are we the only ones chosen tomake sacrifices for the nation?”

Source: S. Sharma, quoted in In the Belly of theRiver. Tribal conflicts over development in Narmadavalley, A. Baviskar, 1995.

28 CONTEMPORARY INDIA – II

India: Major Rivers and Dams

29WATER RESOURCES

Most of the objections to the projects arosedue to their failure to achieve the purposes forwhich they were built. Ironically, the dams thatwere constructed to control floods have

Make a list of inter-state water disputes.

Do you know that the Krishna-Godavaridispute is due to the objections raised byKarnataka and Andhra Pradeshgovernments? It is regarding the diversionof more water at Koyna by the Maharashtragovernment for a multipurpose project. Thiswould reduce downstream flow in theirstates with adverse consequences foragriculture and industry.

triggered floods due to sedimentation in thereservoir. Moreover, the big dams have mostlybeen unsuccessful in controlling floods at thetime of excessive rainfall. You may have seenor read how the release of water from damsduring heavy rains aggravated the floodsituation in Maharashtra and Gujarat in 2006.The floods have not only devastated life andproperty but also caused extensive soil erosion.Sedimentation also meant that the flood plainswere deprived of silt, a natural fertiliser, furtheradding on to the problem of land degradation.It was also observed that the multi-purposeprojects induced earthquakes, caused water-borne diseases and pests and pollutionresulting from excessive use of water.

RAINWATER HARVESTING

Many thought that given the disadvantagesand rising resistance against the multi-

Collect information about flood prone areas of the country

30 CONTEMPORARY INDIA – II

• Roof top rain water is collected using a PVC pipe• Filtered using sand and bricks• Underground pipe takes water to sump for

immediate usage• Excess water from the sump is taken to the well• Water from the well recharges the underground• Take water from the well (later)

(b) Recharge through Abandoned Dugwell

Fig 3.4: Rooftop Rainwater Harvesting

purpose projects, water harvesting systemwas a viable alternative, both socio-economically and environmentally. In ancientIndia, along with the sophisticated hydraulicstructures, there existed an extraordinarytradition of water-harvesting system. Peoplehad in-depth knowledge of rainfall regimesand soil types and developed wide rangingtechniques to harvest rainwater, groundwater,river water and flood water in keeping withthe local ecological conditions and their waterneeds. In hill and mountainous regions,people built diversion channels like the ‘guls’or ‘kuls’ of the Western Himalayas foragriculture. ‘Rooftop rain water harvesting’was commonly practised to store drinkingwater, particularly in Rajasthan. In the floodplains of Bengal, people developed inundationchannels to irrigate their fields. In arid andsemi-arid regions, agricultural fields wereconverted into rain fed storage structures thatallowed the water to stand and moisten thesoil like the ‘khadins’ in Jaisalmer and ‘Johads’in other parts of Rajasthan.

Fig. 3.3

(a) Recharge through Hand Pump

31WATER RESOURCES

Fig 3.5: Traditional method of rain water harvesting

A kul leads to a circular village tank, as the abovein the Kaza village, from which water is released asand when required.

In the semi-arid and arid regions ofRajasthan, particularly in Bikaner, Phalodi andBarmer, almost all the houses traditionally hadunderground tanks or tankas for storingdrinking water. The tanks could be as large asa big room; one household in Phalodi had a tankthat was 6.1 metres deep, 4.27 metres long and2.44 metres wide. The tankas were part of thewell-developed rooftop rainwater harvestingsystem and were built inside the main house orthe courtyard. They were connected to thesloping roofs of the houses through a pipe. Rainfalling on the rooftops would travel down thepipe and was stored in these underground‘tankas’. The first spell of rain was usually notcollected as this would clean the roofs and thepipes. The rainwater from the subsequentshowers was then collected.

The rainwater can be stored in the tankastill the next rainfall making it an extremelyreliable source of drinking water when all othersources are dried up, particularly in thesummers. Rainwater, or palar pani, ascommonly referred to in these parts, isconsidered the purest form of natural water.Many houses constructed underground roomsadjoining the ‘tanka’ to beat the summer heatas it would keep the room cool.

Roof top rain water harvesting is the mostcommon practice in Shillong, Meghalaya.It is interesting because Cherapunjee andMawsynram situated at a distance of 55km. from Shillong receive the highest

rainfall in the world, yet the state capitalShillong faces acute shortage of water.Nearly every household in the city has aroof top rain water harvesting structure.Nearly 15-25 per cent of the total waterrequirement of the household comes fromroof top water harvesting.

Today, in western Rajasthan, sadly thepractice of rooftop rainwater harvesting is on thedecline as plenty of water is available due to theperennial Rajasthan Canal, though some housesstill maintain the tankas since they do not likethe taste of tap water. Fortunately, in many partsof rural and urban India, rooftop rainwaterharvesting is being successfully adapted to storeand conserve water. In Gendathur, a remotebackward village in Mysore, Karnataka, villagershave installed, in their household’s rooftop,rainwater harvesting system to meet their waterneeds. Nearly 200 households have installed thissystem and the village has earned the raredistinction of being rich in rainwater. See Fig. 3.6for a better understanding of the rooftop

Find out other rainwater harvesting systemsexisting in and around your locality.

Fig. 3.6

Rooftop harvesting was common across the townsand villages of the Thar. Rainwater that falls onthe sloping roofs of houses is taken through a pipeinto an underground tanka (circular holes in theground). built in the main house or in the courtyard.The picture above shows water being form aneighbour’s roof through a long pipe. Here theneighbour’s rooftop has been used for collection ofrainwater. The picture shows a hole through whichrainwater flows down into an underground tanka.

32 CONTEMPORARY INDIA – II

Fig 3.7

BAMBOO DRIP IRRIGATION SYSTEM

In Meghalaya, a 200-year-old system of tapping streamand spring wate by using bamboo pipes, is prevalent. About18-20 litres of water enters the bamboo pipe system, getstransported over hundreds of metres, and finally reducesto 20-80 drops per minute ate the site of the plant.

Picture 2 and 3: The channel sections, made of bamboo, divert waterto the plant site where it is distributed into branches, again made andlaid out with different forms of bamboo pipes. The flow of water intothe pipes is controlled by manipulating the pipe positions.

Picture 1: Bamboo pipes are used to divert perennial springs onthe hilltops to the lower reaches by gravity.

Picture 5 and 6Reduced channel sectionsand diversion units areused at the last stage ofwater application. The lastchannel section enableswater to be dropped nearthe roots of the plant.

Picture 4: If the pipes pass a road,they are taken high above the land.

Tamil Nadu is the first and the only statein India which has made roof top rainwaterharvesting structure compulsory to all thehouses across the state. There are legalprovisions to punish the defaulters.

rainwater harvesting system which is adaptedhere. Gendathur receives an annual precipitationof 1,000 mm, and with 80 per cent of collectionefficiency and of about 10 fillings, every housecan collect and use about 50,000 litres of waterannually. From the 20 houses, the net amountof rainwater harvested annually amounts to1,00,000 litres.

33WATER RESOURCES

EXERCISES EXERCISES EXERCISES EXERCISES EXERCISES

1. Multiple choice questions.

(i) Based on the information given below classify each of the situations as‘suffering from water scarcity’ or ‘not suffering from water scarcity’.

(a) Region with high annual rainfall.

(b) Region having high annual rainfall and large population.

(c) Region having high annual rainfall but water is highly polluted.

(d) Region having low rainfall and low population.

(ii) Which one of the following statements is not an argument in favour of multi-purpose river projects?

(a) Multi-purpose projects bring water to those areas which suffer fromwater scarcity.

(b) Multi-purpose projects by regulating water flow helps to control floods.

(c) Multi-purpose projects lead to large scale displacements and loss oflivelihood.

(d) Multi-purpose projects generate electricity for our industries and ourhomes.

(iii) Here are some false statements. Identify the mistakes and rewrite themcorrectly.

(a) Multiplying urban centres with large and dense populations and urbanlifestyles have helped in proper utilisation of water resources.

(b) Regulating and damming of rivers does not affect the river’s naturalflow and its sediment flow.

(c) In Gujarat, the Sabarmati basin farmers were not agitated when higherpriority was given to water supply in urban areas, particularly duringdroughts.

(d) Today in Rajasthan, the practice of rooftop rainwater water harvestinghas gained popularity despite high water availability due to theRajasthan Canal.

2. Answer the following questions in about 30 words.

(i) Explain how water becomes a renewable resource.

(ii) What is water scarcity and what are its main causes?

(iii) Compare the advantages and disadvantages of multi-purpose river projects.

3. Answer the following questions in about 120 words.

(i) Discuss how rainwater harvesting in semi-arid regions of Rajasthan iscarried out.

(ii) Describe how modern adaptations of traditional rainwater harvestingmethods are being carried out to conserve and store water.

1. Collect information on how industries are polluting our water resources.2. Enact with your classmates a scene of water dispute in your locality.