With Chennai and Maharashtra water crisis, water management issues have again taken center stage. NITI Aayog reiterated its strategy for water resources in the “Strategy for new India” document which included adopting an integrated river basin management approach and setting up of river basin organizations (RBOs) for major basins.
What is Water Management?
Water resource management is the activity of planning, developing, distributing, and managing the optimum use of water resources. According to a recent NITI Aayog report, 21 Indian cities including Delhi, Chennai, and Hyderabad will run out of groundwater by 2020 if usage continues at the current rate. This entails an immediate action plan for water resource management in India.
The water situation in India
India has just 4% of the world’s freshwater — but 18% of the global population.
The single largest source of freshwater is monsoons with annual precipitation of about 4000 BCM (billion cubic meters) which is equivalent to1170 mm of rainfall. This is distributed both temporally and spatially. 3000BCM is concentrated in 3-4 months of monsoons. Simultaneously, some northern states are water surplus whereas several states like Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, and Rajasthan are water-scarce.
Out of the 4000 BCM, utilizable water is only 1120 BCM. Out of the utilizable water, 690 BCM is available as surface water and 430 BCM as groundwater.
In 1951, India’s per capita water availability was 5177 cubic meters which decreased to 1545 cubic meters in 2011 and are predicted to further reduce to 1300 cubic meters by 2030.
Causes for the Water vulnerability
Excessive use of groundwater for irrigation in agriculture has also caused a strain on the resource. As India is one of the top agriculture producers in the world, the consumption of water for land and crops is also one of the highest.
Water sources are contaminated with biological pollutants. Indian water bodies also have an increased amount of solid wastes.
Reduction in traditional water recharging areas and Sewage and wastewater drainage into traditional water bodies has exacerbated the water scarcity situation in the country.
Increasing demand due to population growth, industrialization, and rapid urbanization have pushed the demand for water further.
Major steps and water management strategies adopted by Government
Ministry of Jal Shakti was formed by merging two ministries i.e. Ministry of Water Resources, River Development & Ganga Rejuvenation, and Ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation.
1. River Basin Planning
The central water Commission has divided the country into 20 rivers basins comprising 12 major and 8 composite river basins. To address the multi-faceted nature of water management, the government has introduced an integrated approach to water resources management at the national and basin level. This includes improving institutional arrangements and working practices.
2. Indian Rivers Inter-link
The Indian Rivers Inter-link is a proposed large-scale civil engineering project that aims to effectively manage water resources in India by linking Indian rivers by a network of reservoirs and canals and so reduce persistent floods in some parts and water shortages in other parts of India.
3. Watershed management programs in India
Prime Minister Krishi Sinchayee Yojna
(Watershed Development Component) (WDC-PMKSY) – The main objectives of the WDC-PMKSY are to restore the ecological balance by harnessing, conserving, and developing degraded natural resources such as soil, vegetative cover.
Neeranchal Watershed Program
Neeranchal is a World Bank-assisted National Watershed Management Project. Neeranchal is designed to further strengthen and provide technical assistance to the Watershed Component of PMKSY, in particular, and all components of PMKSY, in general, to enhance its delivery capacity.
4. State-specific lead in water management programs
Mission Kakatiya, – launched by the Telangana government aims to develop minor irrigation infrastructure and strengthen community-based irrigation management
Jalyukt-shivir – is a project of the Maharashtra government that aims to make 5000 villages free of water scarcity every year.
MukhyaMantriJalSwavlambanAbhiyan’ – has been launched by Rajasthan for the effective implementation of water conservation and water harvesting in rural areas.
The path ahead
The most important crops of India — rice, wheat, and sugarcane, are the most water-consuming crops. Rice which is a major export crop consumes about 3,500 liters of water for a kilogram of grain produced. Further with constant population increase and depletion in water resources water management will increasingly become more difficult in the future.
The picture of the same is visible in a precipitating crisis of water in southern states. Water management needs to be the central focus of efforts in the agriculture sector and environmental improvement.
Sagar
Context:
With Chennai and Maharashtra water crisis, water management issues have again taken center stage. NITI Aayog reiterated its strategy for water resources in the “Strategy for new India” document which included adopting an integrated river basin management approach and setting up of river basin organizations (RBOs) for major basins.
What is Water Management?
Water resource management is the activity of planning, developing, distributing, and managing the optimum use of water resources. According to a recent NITI Aayog report, 21 Indian cities including Delhi, Chennai, and Hyderabad will run out of groundwater by 2020 if usage continues at the current rate. This entails an immediate action plan for water resource management in India.
The water situation in India
Causes for the Water vulnerability
Major steps and water management strategies adopted by Government
Ministry of Jal Shakti was formed by merging two ministries i.e. Ministry of Water Resources, River Development & Ganga Rejuvenation, and Ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation.
1. River Basin Planning
The central water Commission has divided the country into 20 rivers basins comprising 12 major and 8 composite river basins. To address the multi-faceted nature of water management, the government has introduced an integrated approach to water resources management at the national and basin level. This includes improving institutional arrangements and working practices.
2. Indian Rivers Inter-link
The Indian Rivers Inter-link is a proposed large-scale civil engineering project that aims to effectively manage water resources in India by linking Indian rivers by a network of reservoirs and canals and so reduce persistent floods in some parts and water shortages in other parts of India.
3. Watershed management programs in India
Prime Minister Krishi Sinchayee Yojna
(Watershed Development Component) (WDC-PMKSY) – The main objectives of the WDC-PMKSY are to restore the ecological balance by harnessing, conserving, and developing degraded natural resources such as soil, vegetative cover.
Neeranchal Watershed Program
Neeranchal is a World Bank-assisted National Watershed Management Project. Neeranchal is designed to further strengthen and provide technical assistance to the Watershed Component of PMKSY, in particular, and all components of PMKSY, in general, to enhance its delivery capacity.
4. State-specific lead in water management programs
The path ahead
The most important crops of India — rice, wheat, and sugarcane, are the most water-consuming crops. Rice which is a major export crop consumes about 3,500 liters of water for a kilogram of grain produced. Further with constant population increase and depletion in water resources water management will increasingly become more difficult in the future.
The picture of the same is visible in a precipitating crisis of water in southern states. Water management needs to be the central focus of efforts in the agriculture sector and environmental improvement.