Water Resources

Hydrological Cycle

http://ga.water.usgs.gov/edu/watercyclegraphichi.html

River valley projects

Floods & Droughts…

• Any disturbance to the flow of the rivers causes drought or floods.

• Floods are the result of peculiar rainfall pattern. Of the total annualrainfall, 75% occurs over 3-4 months. This leads to very heavydischarge from rivers which floods large areas.

• Drought occur when rainfall is less than 400mm /year

Floods & Droughts

• Ganga-Brahmaputra-Meghna, which carry about 60% of total river flow is the most flood prone region of India. States of Assam, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh (about 19 million hectares of land) get affected almost every year by floods.

• Similarly 16% of the land area spread over 16 states is drought prone in India.

Map of India showing flood prone areas

MAP OF INDIA SHOWING DROUGHT PRONE AREAS

Watershed management

https://www.env.go.jp/en/earth/ecoasia/APEIS/img/model2.gif

What is Rain Water Harvesting?

• Rainwater harvesting is the process of augmenting the naturalfiltration of rainwater in to the underground formation bysome artificial methods.

• "Conscious collection and storage of rainwater to cater todemands of water, for drinking, domestic purpose & irrigationis termed as Rainwater Harvesting."

Why Rain Water Harvesting?

• To arrest ground water decline and augment ground water table

• To beneficiate water quality in aquifers

• To conserve surface water runoff during monsoon

• To reduce soil erosion

• To inculcate a culture of water conservation

•

Methods

There are two ways of harvesting rain water:

(i) Surface runoff harvesting

(ii) Roof top rainwater harvesting

Surface runoff harvesting:

In urban area rainwater flows away as surfacerunoff. This runoff could be caught and used forrecharging aquifers by adopting appropriatemethods.

Who is this man?- Waterman of India

Rajendra Singh Model

A Johad

Arvari river, Rajasthan

Manipal lake experiment

Manipal lake

Roof top rainwater harvesting (RTRWH):• It is a system of catching rainwater where it

falls.

• In rooftop harvesting, the roof becomes the catchments, and the rainwater is collected from the roof of the house/building.

• It can either be stored in a tank or diverted to artificial recharge system.

• This method is less expensive and very effective and if implemented properly helps in augmenting the ground water level of the area.

RAIN WATER HARVESTING

Traditional ways of Harvesting water

Temple tanks

How much water do I use ?

Use Litres/person

Drinking 3

Cooking 4

Bathing 20

Flushing 40

Washing-clothes 25

Washing Utensils 20

Gardening 23

Total 135

Consumption range : from 50 to 300 liters per person per day

What is the inter-linking river project?

• It aims to Transfer water from surplus to water deficit areas inthe country.

• Inter-Linking River Program will help saving the people living indrought-prone zones from hunger and people living in flood-prone areas from the destruction caused by floods

Netravati- Hemavati link: “The cost is rather high due to requirement of lift.”

What are the benefits?

• Irrigating 35 million hectares;

• Enabling full use of existing irrigation projects;

• Generating power to the tune of 34,000 mw withadded benefits, including flood control.

What is the cost?

• Cost of the project was estimated at 5,60,000 crore.

• The true cost can known only when the detailed projectreports of the 30 river link projects are drawn up

• So far only Ken-Betwa project is under survey

What is the problem?

• IMPORTANT: ENVIRONMENTAL PROBLEMS- EXOTIC SPECIES

• Inter-state disputes

What’s the solution?

• We need to see if a change in its constitutional status isrequired

• River-linking project, alongside a chain of water-conservationprojects, would offer a solution

• Address environmental issues

This may not be far from truth…

LETTER WRITTEN IN THE YEAR 2070

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Article published in the magazine "Crónicas de los Tiempos“, in April 2002.

This is the year 2070

I have just turned 50, but I my appearance is of somebody of 85.

I suffer from serious kidney problems, because I

do not drink enough water.

I'm afraid I do not have much time left to live.

I am one of the oldest people in this society.

I remember when I was a child of 5.

There were lots of trees in the parks, houses with beautiful gardens,

and I could enjoy having a shower for half an hour.

Everything was very different then.

Nowadays we use towels with mineral oil to clean our skin.

Before, women had beautiful hair.

Then, my father washed his car with water coming out of a hosepipe.

Now, my son does not believe that water could be wasted that way.

Now, we have to shave our heads to keep them clean without the use of water.

I remember there were

SAVE WATER

warnings on outside posters, radio and TV,

but nobody paid attention. We thought

that water

was to last forever.

Now, all the rivers, lakes, dams and underground water beds are either dry or

contaminated.

Industry came virtually to a standstill and unemployment reached dramatic proportions.

Desalination plants are the main source of employment and workers receive part of their salary in drinkable water.

Assaults at gun point on the streets for a jerrycan of water are very common.

Food is 80% synthetic.

Before, the recommended quantity of water to drink for an adult was 8 glasses a day.

Nowadays, I am only allowed half a glass.

We now have to wear disposable clothing, and this increases the amount of litter.

We are using now septic tanks, because the sewerage system does not work for lack of water.

The outside appearance of the population is horrible: wrinkled, emaciated bodies, due to dehydration, full of sores caused by ultra violet radiation,

now stronger without the protective shield of the ozone layer.

Skin cancer, gastrointestinal infections and of the urinary tracts are the main causes of death.

Due to the excessive drying of the skin young people of 20 look like 40.

Water cannot be produced, oxygen is also degraded due to the lack of trees and vegetation, and the intellectual capacity of the new generations

is severely impaired.

Scientists investigate, but there's no solution to the problem.

The morphology of spermatozoa in many men has changed.

As a consequence, babies are born with deficiencies, mutations and physical

deformities.

Government makes us pay for the air we breathe, 137 m3 per day per adult person.

People who cannot pay are expelled from the "ventilated zones", with huge mechanical lungs

driven by solar power. The air is not of good quality, but at least people

can breathe.

The average life expectancy is 35 years.

In some countries, where there are still some green zones crossed by rivers, these are guarded by heavy armed soldiers.

Water became a very coveted treasure, more precious than gold and diamonds.

Where I live, there are no trees, because it seldom rains. When it happens to register some precipitation, it is of acid rain.

The seasons have been severely affected by the atomic tests and by contamination from the

20th century polluting industries.

We were warned to look after the environment, but nobody cared.

When my son asks me to talk about my youth, I tell him about the green fields, the beauty of the flowers, the rain, how pleasant was to swim and fish in the rivers and dams,

to drink all the water we could, and how healthy people was.

Then, I feel a lump in my throat!

He asks: Daddy! Why there is no water?

I cannot help feeling guilty, because I belong to the generation who contributed to the destruction of the environment or simply

did not take into account all the warning signs.

Now our children pay a very high price!

I sincerely believe that within a short time life on earth will not be possible, as the destruction of nature reached now an irreversible stage.

How I would like to go back and make mankind understand…

...that we still had time to save our Planet Earth.