Geography 3 Marks Question

Increasing demand for water is a challenge to India:

• India has a large population with limited water resources.
• Rising demand for increasing population.
• More water is required for irrigation to increase agricultural production as rainfall is highly variable.
• Rapid industrial growth is increasing demand for water.
• Urbanization and modern life style has increased the demand.
• Water pollution has added to water shortage.
  (Any 5 points to be analysed)

Three causes for the deterioration of ‘quality of water’ in India are:

• Water gets polluted by foreign matters such as microorganisms, chemicals, industrial and other wastes which deteriorate the quality of water and render it unfit for human use.
• When toxic substances enter lakes, steams, rivers, ocean and other water bodies, they get dissolved or lie suspended in water. This results in pollution of water whereby quality of water deteriorates affecting aquatic systems.
• The pollutants also seep down and pollute groundwater and causes the underground water unfit for human uses.

Reasons for conservation and management of water resources are:

• There is a declining availability of fresh water and increasing demand, Per capita availability of water is declining day by day.
• There is a great demand of water due to increase of population. Demand of water is increasing in different sectors like agriculture, industries and for domestic uses.
• Pollution of water is responsible for declining the quality of water. This causes the un-usability of this precious life giving resource.

The values that can help in maintaining the Quality of water:

• Judicious/optimum use of water,
• Controlling population,
• Recycle and Reuse of water,
• Watershed Management
• Rain water harvesting
• Rules and regulations
  (Any three points to be explained)

Rain water harvesting is a method to capture and store rainwater for various uses. It is a low cost and eco-friendly technique for preserving every drop of water by guiding the rain water to bore well, pits and wells. It has been practiced through various methods by different communities in the country for a long time – like the Tankas in Rajasthan , Rooftop collection, percolation pits etc. Ralegan Siddhi in Maharashtra is a leading example for the same.

The total replenishable groundwater resources in the country are about 432 cubic km. The Ganga and the Brahamaputra basins, have about 46 per cent of the total replenishable groundwater resources. The level of groundwater utilisation is relatively high in the river basins lying in north-western region and parts of south India.

Approximately, 71 per cent of the earth’s surface is covered with it but only 3% of it is fresh water. A very small proportion of fresh water is effectively available for human use. The availability of fresh water varies over space and time. The tensions and disputes on sharing and control of this scare resource are becoming contested issues among communities, regions, and states. The assessment, efficient use and conservation of water, therefore, become necessaiy to ensure development.

Watershed management basically refers to efficient management and conservation of surface and groundwater resources. It involves prevention of runoff and storage and recharge of groundwater through various methods like percolation tanks, recharge wells, etc. However, in broad sense watershed management includes conservation, regeneration and judicious use of all resources – natural (like land, water, plants and animals) and human with in a watershed.

Rain water harvesting is a method to capture and store rainwater for various uses. It is also used to recharge groundwater aquifers. It is a low cost and eco-friendly technique for preserving every drop of water by guiding the rain water to bore well, pits and wells. Rainwater harvesting increases water availability, checks the declining groundwater table, improves the quality of groundwater, controls soil erosion and flooding.

We need to encourage watershed development due to following reasons:

• To prevent run-off.
• To increase storage and recharge of groundwater.
• Conservation, regeneration and judicious use of all resources like land, water, plants, animals etc.
• To encourage community and people participation, for example, Neeru-Meeru, Haiyali etc.

The three states are:

1. Punjab
2. Haiyana
3. Western Uttar Pradesh

It is because:

• Wheat and rice are grown mainly with the help of irrigation in these states.
• Net irrigated area of Punjab and Haryana are irrigated through wells and tube wells.
• These states utilize large proportion of their groundwater potential.
• Canal irrigation is the biggest source of irrigation in North India.
• In peninsular India, tank irrigation is mostly done.

Water quality refers to the purity of water, or water without unwanted foreign substances. Water gets polluted by foreign matters such as micro-organisms, chemicals, industrial and other wastes. Such matters deteriorate the quality of water and render it unfit for human use. When toxic substances enter lakes, steams, rivers, ocean and other water bodies, they get dissolved or lie suspended in water. This results in pollution of water whereby the quality of water deteriorates affecting aquatic systems.

The National Water Policy was undertaken in 2002, to prioritized the ‘ water allocation in the different sectors in the following order:
Drinking water, Irrigation, Hydro power, Navigation, Industrial and Other uses. Highlights:

• Providing drinking water is the first priority.
• Irrigation and multi-purpose projects should include drinking water in areas where it is not available.
• Regulate and limit groundwater exploitation.
• Regular monitoring of water sources for quality.
• Awareness and conservation consciousness should be promoted.

The over-use of groundwater resources has led to decline in ground water table in the states of Punjab, Haryana, western Uttar Pradesh. In fact, over withdrawals in some states like Rajasthan and Maharashtra has increased fluoride concentration in groundwater, and this practice has led to increase in concentration of arsenic in parts of West Bengal and Bihar. The per capita availability of water is dwindling day by day due to increase in population. The available water resources are also getting polluted with industrial, agricultural and domestic effluents,
and this, in turn, is further limiting the availability of usable water resources.

The rate of groundwater utilization is very high in the river basins of north west India and parts of south India, where the rain water percolates down easily through the soft soils and recharge underground water table. It is also easy to construct wells and tube wells here. Surface water is more utilized in the crystalline rocks of south India.

A very small proportion of fresh water is available for human use. The availability of fresh water varies over space and time. The tensions and disputes on sharing and control of this scare resource have become serious problems. So assessment, efficient use and Conservation of water, have become necessary to ensure development.

Water constitutes a large proportion of human body. Water intake is an essential part of human life. Contaminated water intake is one of the biggest reasons of many chronic diseases. The intake of contaminated water is the cause of severe water borne disease and is also one of the main causes of high infant mortality rates. The contaminated water is the reason for several diseases like Cholera, typhoid, etc. which are major killer diseases in India.

At present the agriculture use accounts for the highest share of utilization for both ground and surface water resources. The main reason being that the agriculture accounts or the largest share in economy of the country, but in recent times the share of secondary and tertiary activities have been rising in the economy. This in turn will reduce the share of the agriculture and increase the share of industrial and domestic sector in the consumption of all resources including the water resources of the country.